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 - $840 (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
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 (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Agriculture - products:
copra, taro, breadfruit, sweet potatoes, vegetables; fish
Exports:
$6 million f.o.b. (1998)
Exports - commodities:
copra 62%, coconuts, seaweed, fish
Exports - partners:
Japan, Bangladesh, US, Australia, Brazil, Poland (2000)
Imports:
$44 million c.i.f. (1999)
Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, miscellaneous manufactured goods, fuel
Imports - partners:
Australia, Japan, Fiji, Poland, US (2000)
Debt - external:
$10 million (1999 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$15.5 million largely from UK and Japan (1995)
Currency:
Australian dollar (AUD)
Currency code:
AUD
Exchange rates:
Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.8406 (2002), 1.9334 (2001), 1.7248 (2000), 1.55 (1999), 1.5918 (1998)
Fiscal year:
NA
NOTE: The information regarding Kiribati on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Kiribati Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
