Overview: Agriculture and tourism are the mainstays of the economy. Agricultural production is concentrated on small farms, and the most important commercial crops are coconuts, tomatoes, melons, and breadfruit. A few cattle ranches supply the domestic meat market. Small-scale industry is limited to handicrafts, fish processing, and copra. The tourist industry is the primary source of foreign exchange and employs about 10% of the labor force. The islands have few natural resources, and imports far exceed exports. In 1987 the US Government provided grants of $40 million out of the Marshallese budget of $55 million.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $63 million (1989 est.)

National product real growth rate: 6% (1992)

National product per capita: $1,500 (1992 est)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 7% (1992 est)

Unemployment rate: 16% (1991 est)

Budget:
revenues: $55 million
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA (1987 est.)

Exports: $3.9 million (f.o.b., 1992 est)
commodities: coconut oil, fish, live animals, trichus shells
partners: US, Japan, Australia

Imports: $62.9 million (c.i.f., 1992 est)
commodities: foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, beverages and tobacco, fuels
partners: US, Japan, Australia

External debt: $NA

Industrial production: growth rate NA%

Electricity:
capacity: 42,000 kW
production: 80 million kWh
consumption per capita: 1,840 kWh (1990)

Industries: copra, fish, tourism; craft items from shell, wood, and pearls; offshore banking (embryonic)

Agriculture: coconuts, cacao, taro, breadfruit, fruits, pigs, chickens

Economic aid:
recipient: under the terms of the Compact of Free Association, the US is to provide approximately $40 million in aid annually

Currency: 1 United States dollar (US$) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: US currency is used

Fiscal year: 1 October - 30 September

NOTE: The information regarding Marshall Islands on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Marshall Islands Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Marshall Islands Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.