Overview: Tuvalu consists of a scattered group of nine coral atolls with poor soil. The country has no known mineral resources and few exports. Subsistence farming and fishing are the primary economic activities. The islands are too small and too remote for development of a tourist industry. Government revenues largely come from the sale of stamps and coins and worker remittances. Substantial income is received annually from an international trust fund established in 1987 by Australia, NZ, and the UK and supported also by Japan and South Korea.

National product: GNP - exchange rate conversion - $6.4 million (1990)

National product real growth rate: 4% (1990 est.)

National product per capita: $700 (1990)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.9% (1989)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget:
revenues: $4.3 million
expenditures: $4.3 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1989 est.)

Exports: $165,000 (f.o.b., 1989)
commodities: copra
partners: Fiji, Australia, NZ

Imports: $4.4 million (c.i.f., 1989)
commodities: food, animals, mineral fuels, machinery, manufactured goods
partners: Fiji, Australia, NZ

External debt: $NA

Industrial production: growth rate NA%

Electricity:
capacity: 2,600 kW
production: 3 million kWh
consumption per capita: 330 kWh (1990)

Industries: fishing, tourism, copra

Agriculture: coconuts and fish

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $1 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $101 million

Currency: 1 Tuvaluan dollar ($T) or 1 Australian dollar ($A) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: Tuvaluan dollars ($T) or Australian dollars ($A) per US$1 - 1.4364 (January 1994), 1.4704 (1993), 1.3600 (1992), 1.2835 (1991), 1.2799 (1990), 1.2618 (1989)

Fiscal year: NA

NOTE: The information regarding Tuvalu 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 Tuvalu Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Tuvalu Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.