24 Jan, 2020

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Gibraltar

Gibraltar is an autonomous British overseas territory. GDP per capita was estimated at $61,700 USD in 2014. It is a small narrow peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea in southern Spain. In 2018, its population was estimated at 33,718 people. In 2017, the largest export goods were floating docks and special function vessels (31.8 percent), fixed wing aircraft > 15,000 kgs (19.6 percent), cars (12.9 percent), refined petroleum (13.02 percent), and cargo ships and similar vessels (11.71 percent). Its largest export partners were Mauritania (31.7 percent), Germany (22.22 percent), the Netherlands (11.45 percent), and Poland (8.85 percent). The largest goods imports were refined petroleum (71 percent) and pleasure or sports boats (8.67 percent). Spain reluctantly ceded Gibraltar to Great Britain in 1713 in the Treaty of Utrecht after the British and Dutch had captured the peninsula in 1704. In 1830, the British garrison became a crown colony. It was granted autonomy in 1969. A new constitution came into force in 2007, and the European Court of First Instance recognised Gibraltar's right to regulate its own tax regime in 2008. The UK retains responsibility for defence, foreign relations, internal security, and financial stability. While shared sovereignty with Spain was rejected by the local population in 2002, three-way talks for increasing cooperation between the local population and Spain are ongoing. Its economy is mainly based on shipping, tourism, financial services and online gambling. Somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 people travel into Gibraltar from Spain daily for work. Including tourists, on average there are 28,500 border crossings per day. After Brexit, the Spain - Gibraltar border will become an external border of the EU, with similar issues to the Irish border. Because of this, Gibraltar's First Minister has suggested that it would make sense for Gibraltar to join the Schengen zone, but so far the UK Government is against it.