Economy (Tuvalu)
================


     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, New Zealand, and the UK and
         supported also by Japan and South Korea.
     GNP:
         exchange rate conversion - $4.6 million, per capita $530; real growth rate
         NA% (1989 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         3.9% (1984)
     Unemployment rate:
         NA%
     Budget:
         revenues $4.3 million; expenditures $4.3 million, including capital
         expenditures of $NA (1989)
     Exports:
         $1.0 million (f.o.b., 1983 est.)
       commodities:
         copra
       partners:
         Fiji, Australia, NZ
     Imports:
         $2.8 million (c.i.f., 1983 est.)
       commodities:
         food, animals, mineral fuels, machinery, manufactured goods
       partners:
         Fiji, Australia, NZ
     External debt:
         $NA
     Industrial production:
         growth rate NA
     Electricity:
         2,600 kW capacity; 3 million kWh produced, 330 kWh per capita (1990)
     Industries:
         fishing, tourism, copra
     Agriculture:
         coconuts, copra
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $1 million; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $101 million
     Currency:
         Tuvaluan dollar and Australian dollar (plural - dollars); 1 Tuvaluan dollar
         ($T) or 1 Australian dollar ($A) = 100 cents
     Exchange rates:
         Tuvaluan dollars ($T) or Australian dollars ($A) per US$1 - 1.3117 (March
         1992), 1.2835 (1991), 1.2799 (1990), 1.2618 (1989), 1.2752 (1988), 1.4267
         (1987)
     Fiscal year:
         NA




converted with guide2html by Kochtopf