Independents won 3 and the People's National Organisation (PNO) won 4. The
3 Independent candidates gave their support to the PDM who became the rul-
ing party. Since then one Independent member has left the PDM and reduced
the Government's majority over the opposition party to one. The next
elections are due in 1980.
Economy
The unit of currency is the US$.
Fishing plays an important part in the economy of the islands. Spring
lobsters which abound on the Continental Shelf are harvested seasonally and
provide valuable export trade. There is a certain amount of demersal fish
caught for local consumption; but no pelagic fish as such.
There is practically no agriculture carried out in the Turks Islands œr
South Caicos. In the rest of the Caicos Islands corn, beans and other sub-
sistence crops are grown in sufficient quantity to satisfy local needs.
There are a few cattle, but the main problems in developing agriculture on
the islands is created by the uncertain rainfall.
The Government have embarked on a campaign to encourage a major expan-
sion of tourism and also to seek overseas investment with the twin objects
of providing jobs and increasing financial viability.
British Aid
Given the inherent poverty of the island group the TCG depends on a
substantial input of UK funds to balance the recurrent budget. The overall
proportion of Budgetary aid has declined in recent years from over 50% to
34% and currently totals about US$ 1.6m.
In addition the UK Government encourages the development of infra-
structure (roads, airports, etc) on the islands which will assist in pro-
moting their viability and so attract development. Development aid total-
ling US$ 0.800m in 1977 which, together with the US$ 0.200m spent on tech-
nical surveys and consultation, plus the recruitment of specialist
advisers, brought the overall total spent in 1977 on DevAid to over US$ 1m.