The economy is small and open. Therefore, the country is subject to the vagaries of the economic conditions in countries from which it imports goods and services. To some extent, the effect of imported prices on the economy is moderated because the country's official currency, the Eastern Caribbean dollar, enjoys a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar (EC$2.70 = US$1.00).

The Eastern Caribbean dollar which Antigua and Barbuda shares with other countries of the Leeward and Windward Islands is the strongest of the Caribbean currencies.

Tourism is the largest contributor to Gross Domestic Product. Agriculture and fisheries have dropped from 40 per cent of GDP in the 1960s to about 12 per cent. Manufacturing industries, which thrived in the decade of the 1980s, are export oriented and produce garments, paint, furniture, bedding and galvanized sheets.