Fiji Economy
Economy - overviewFiji, endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources, is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economies, though still with a large subsistence sector. Sugar exports and a growing tourist industry - with 300,000 to 400,000 tourists annually - are the major sources of foreign exchange. Sugar processing makes up one-third of industrial activity. Long-term problems include low investment, uncertain land ownership rights, and the government's ability to manage its budget. Yet short-run economic prospects are good, provided tensions do not again erupt between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $5.012 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
4.8% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $5,800 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 16.6%
industry: 22.4%
services: 61% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line
25.5% (1990-91)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA
Inflation rate
1.6% (2002 est.)
Labor force
137,000 (1999)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture, including subsistence agriculture 70% (2001 est.)
Unemployment rate
7.6% (1999)
Budget
revenues: $427.9 million
expenditures: $531.4 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2000 est.)
Agriculture - products
sugarcane, coconuts, cassava (tapioca), rice, sweet potatoes, bananas; cattle, pigs, horses, goats; fish
Industries
tourism, sugar, clothing, copra, gold, silver, lumber, small cottage industries
Industrial production growth rate
NA
Electricity - production
520.1 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
483.7 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
5,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
NA (2001)
Oil - imports
NA (2001)
Exports
$609 million f.o.b. (2002)
Exports - commodities
sugar, garments, gold, timber, fish, molasses, coconut oil
Exports - partners
US 23.7%, Australia 18.4%, UK 13.6%, Samoa 6%, Japan 4.8% (2003)
Imports
$835 million c.i.f. (2002)
Imports - commodities
manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products, food, chemicals
Imports - partners
Australia 35.1%, Singapore 19.2%, New Zealand 17.2%, Japan 4.9% (2003)
Debt - external
$188.1 million (2001 est.)
Currency
Fijian dollar (FJD)
Currency code
FJD
Exchange rates
Fijian dollars per US dollar - 1.8958 (2003), 2.1869 (2002), 2.2766 (2001), 2.1286 (2000), 1.9696 (1999)
