Part 248

US diplomatic representation: chief of mission: Ambassador Don Lee GEVIRTZ embassy: 31 Loftus Street, Suva mailing address: P. O. Box 218, Suva telephone: 314466 FAX: 300081

Flag: light blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the Fijian shield centered on the outer half of the flag; the shield depicts a yellow lion above a white field quartered by the cross of Saint George featuring stalks of sugarcane, a palm tree, bananas, and a white dove

Economy -------

Economic overview: Fiji, richly 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 tourism are the major sources of foreign exchange. Industry contributes 17% to GDP; sugar processing makes up one-third of industrial activity. Roughly 250,000 tourists visit each year. Political uncertainty and drought, however, contribute to substantial fluctuations in earnings from tourism and sugar and to the emigration of skilled workers. In 1992, growth was approximately 3%, based on growth in tourism and a lessening of labor-management disputes in the sugar and gold-mining sectors. In 1993, the government's budgeted growth rate of 3% was not achieved because of a decline in non-sugar agricultural output and damage from Cyclone Kina. Growth in 1994 of 5% was largely attributable to increased tourism and expansion in the manufacturing sector.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $4.7 billion (1995 est.)

GDP real growth rate: 2.2% (1995 est.)

GDP per capita: $6,100 (1995 est.)

GDP composition by sector: agriculture: 22% industry: 17% services: 61% (1994)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2% (1995)

Labor force: 235,000 by occupation: subsistence agriculture 67%, wage earners 18%, salary earners 15% (1987)

Unemployment rate: 5.4% (1992)

Budget: revenues: $495.6 million expenditures: $591.2 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1995 est.)

Industries: sugar, tourism, copra, gold, silver, clothing, lumber, small cottage industries

Industrial production growth rate: 0% (1993 est.)

Electricity: capacity: 200,000 kW production: 480 million kWh consumption per capita: 581 kWh (1993)

Agriculture: sugarcane, coconuts, cassava (tapioca), rice, sweet potatoes, bananas; cattle, pigs, horses, goats; fish catch nearly 33,000 tons (1989)

Exports: $571.8 million (f.o.b., 1995) commodities: sugar 40%, clothing, gold, processed fish, lumber partners: EC 26%, Australia 15%, Pacific Islands 11%, Japan 6%

Imports: $864.3 million (c.i.f., 1995) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products, food, consumer goods, chemicals partners: Australia 30%, NZ 17%, Japan 13%, EC 6%, US 6%

External debt: $670 million (1994 est.)

Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $NA

Currency: 1 Fijian dollar (F$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Fijian dollars (F$) per US$1 - 1.4347 (January 1996), 1.4063 (1995), 1.4641 (1994), 1.5418 (1993), 1.5030 (1992), 1.4756 (1991)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Transportation --------------

Railways: total: 597 km; note - belongs to the government-owned Fiji Sugar Corporation narrow gauge: 597 km 0.610-m gauge (1995)

Highways: total: 4,800 km paved: NA km unpaved: NA km

Waterways: 203 km; 122 km navigable by motorized craft and 200-metric-ton barges

Ports: Labasa, Lautoka, Levuka, Savusavu, Suva