Fiji Economy - 2004

Economy - overview:
Fiji, endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources, is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economies, though still with a large subsistence sector. Sugar exports and a growing tourist industry - with 300,000 to 400,000 tourists annually - are the major sources of foreign exchange. Sugar processing makes up one-third of industrial activity. Long-term problems include low investment, uncertain land ownership rights, and the government's ability to manage its budget. Yet short-run economic prospects are good, provided tensions do not again erupt between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $5.007 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4.8% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $5,800 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 16.6%
industry: 22.4%
services: 61% (2001 est.)

Population below poverty line:
25.5% (1990-91)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.6% (2002 est.)

Labor force:
137,000 (1999)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture, including subsistence agriculture 70% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate:
7.6% (1999)

Budget:
revenues: $427.9 million
expenditures: $531.4 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Industries:
tourism, sugar, clothing, copra, gold, silver, lumber, small cottage industries

Industrial production growth rate:
NA%

Electricity - production:
520.1 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 18.5%
hydro: 81.5%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption:
483.7 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
5,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Agriculture - products:
sugarcane, coconuts, cassava (tapioca), rice, sweet potatoes, bananas; cattle, pigs, horses, goats; fish

Exports:
$609 million f.o.b. (2002)

Exports - commodities:
sugar, garments, gold, timber, fish, molasses, coconut oil

Exports - partners:
US 25.5%, Australia 19.7%, UK 10.7%, Japan 6.4%, Samoa 5.6% (2002)

Imports:
$835 million c.i.f. (2002)

Imports - commodities:
manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products, food, chemicals

Imports - partners:
Australia 37.5%, New Zealand 17.2%, Singapore 16%, Japan 4.2%, China 4.1% (2002)

Debt - external:
$188.1 million (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$40.3 million (1995)

Currency:
Fijian dollar (FJD)

Currency code:
FJD

Exchange rates:
Fijian dollars per US dollar - 1.9 (2003), 2.19 (2002), 2.28 (2001), 2.13 (2000), 1.97 (1999)