Kiribati Economy - 2006

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 equals about 20% of GDP. Remittances from seamen on merchant ships abroad account for more than $5 million each year. Kiribati receives around $15 million annually for the government budget from an Australian trust fund.

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

GDP (official exchange rate):
NA

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

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$800 (2001 est.)

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

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

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

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

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

Industries:
fishing, handicrafts

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

Electricity - production:
12 million kWh (2003)

Electricity - consumption:
11.16 million kWh (2003)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2003)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2003)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - consumption:
200 bbl/day (2003 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day

Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2003 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2003 est.)

Exports:
$17 million f.o.b. (2004 est.)

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

Exports - partners:
France 45.7%, Japan 29.2%, US 9.1%, Thailand 5.4% (2004)

Imports:
$62 million c.i.f. (2004 est.)

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

Imports - partners:
Australia 33.6%, Fiji 29.8%, Japan 10.3%, NZ 6.9%, France 4.1% (2004)

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

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

Currency (code):
Australian dollar (AUD)

Exchange rates:
Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.3095 (2005), 1.3598 (2004), 1.5419 (2003), 1.8406 (2002), 1.9334 (2001)