- with 300,000 to 400,000 tourists annually - are the major
sources of foreign exchange. Sugar processing makes up one-third of
industrial activity, but is inefficient. 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. Overseas remittances from
Fijians working in Kuwait and Iraq have increased significantly.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$5.173 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3.6% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $5,900 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 16.6% industry: 22.4% services: 61% (2001 est.)
Labor force:
137,000 (1999)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture, including subsistence agriculture 70% (2001 est.)
Unemployment rate:
7.6% (1999)
Population below poverty line:
25.5% (1990–91)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.6% (2002 est.)
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:
750 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 18.5% hydro: 81.5% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (2001)
Electricity - consumption:
697.5 million kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
5,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA
Oil - imports:
NA
Exports:
$609 million f.o.b. (2002)
Exports - commodities:
sugar, garments, gold, timber, fish, molasses, coconut oil
Exports - partners:
US 24%, Australia 19%, UK 12.6%, Samoa 6.5%, Japan 4.1% (2004)
Imports:
$835 million c.i.f. (2002)
Imports - commodities:
manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum
products, food, chemicals
Imports - partners:
Australia 25.9%, Singapore 23.1%, New Zealand 21.1% (2004)
Debt - external:
$188.1 million (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$40.3 million (1995)
Currency (code):
Fijian dollar (FJD)
Currency code:
FJD
Exchange rates:
Fijian dollars per US dollar - 1.7331 (2004), 1.8958 (2003), 2.1869
(2002), 2.2766 (2001), 2.1286 (2000)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Fiji
Telephones - main lines in use:
102,000 (2003)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
109,900 (2003)
Telephone system:
general assessment: modern local, interisland, and international
(wire/radio integrated) public and special-purpose telephone,
telegraph, and teleprinter facilities; regional radio communications
center
domestic: NA
international: country code - 679; access to important cable links
between US and Canada as well as between NZ and Australia; satellite
earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 13, FM 40, shortwave 0 (1998)
Radios:
541,476 (1999)
Television broadcast stations:
NA
Televisions:
88,110 (1999)
Internet country code:
.fj
Internet hosts:
493 (2003)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
2 (2000)
Internet users:
55,000 (2003)
Transportation Fiji
Railways:
total: 597 km
narrow gauge: 597 km 0.600-m gauge
note: belongs to the government-owned Fiji Sugar Corporation; used
to haul sugarcane during harvest season (May to December) (2003)
Highways:
total: 3,440 km
paved: 1,692 km
unpaved: 1,748 km (1999 est.)
Waterways:
203 km
note: 122 km navigable by motorized craft and 200-metric-ton barges
(2004)
Ports and harbors:
Lambasa, Lautoka, Suva
Merchant marine:
total: 7 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 6,372 GRT/7,453 DWT
by type: passenger 3, passenger/cargo 2, roll on/roll off 2
foreign-owned: 1 (Australia 1) (2005)
Airports:
28 (2004 est.)
Airports