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: $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 (1970-87), $96 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--1.2834 (January 1991), 1.2799 (1990), 1.2618 (1989), 1.2752 (1988), 1.4267 (1987), 1.4905 (1986), 1.4269 (1985)

Fiscal year: NA

NOTE: The information regarding Tuvalu on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Tuvalu Economy 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Tuvalu Economy 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.