Kiribati Economy - 2004

Economy - overview:
A remote country of 33 scattered coral atolls, Kiribati has few natural resources. Commercially viable phosphate deposits were exhausted at the time of independence from the UK in 1979. Copra and fish now represent the bulk of production and exports. The economy has fluctuated widely in recent years. Economic development is constrained by a shortage of skilled workers, weak infrastructure, and remoteness from international markets. Tourism provides more than one-fifth of GDP. The financial sector is at an early stage of development as is the expansion of private sector initiatives. Foreign financial aid from UK, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and China is a critical supplement to GDP, equal to 25%-50% of GDP in recent years. Remittances from workers abroad account for more than $5 million each year.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $79 million - supplemented by a nearly equal amount from external sources (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
1.5% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $800 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 30%
industry: 7%
services: 63% (1998 est.)

Population below poverty line:
NA%

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2.5% (2001 est.)

Labor force:
7,870 economically active, not including subsistence farmers (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate:
2%; underemployment 70% (1992 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $28.4 million
expenditures: $37.2 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Industries:
fishing, handicrafts

Industrial production growth rate:
0.7% (1991 est.)

Electricity - production:
7 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption:
6.51 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

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

Oil - consumption:
190 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Agriculture - products:
copra, taro, breadfruit, sweet potatoes, vegetables; fish

Exports:
$35 million f.o.b. (2002)

Exports - commodities:
copra 62%, coconuts, seaweed, fish

Exports - partners:
Japan 54.3%, South Korea 17.1%, Thailand 17.1% (2002)

Imports:
$83 million c.i.f. (2002)

Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, miscellaneous manufactured goods, fuel

Imports - partners:
France 30.1%, Australia 27.7%, Fiji 13.3%, Japan 9.6%, US 4.8% (2002)

Debt - external:
$10 million (1999 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$15.5 million largely from UK and Japan (2001 est.)

Currency:
Australian dollar (AUD)

Currency code:
AUD

Exchange rates:
Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.54 (2003), 1.84 (2002), 1.93 (2001), 1.72 (2000), 1.55 (1999)