Statistics of Kiribati may start with the GDP of the country, with respect to production in different fields. The per capita Gross National Product below $ 1000 makes Kiribati one of the poorest nations of the world. The country owes its economic insufficiency to factors like its distant geographical position, weak infrastructures, poor conditions of the soil, unskilled labor classes and deficiency of natural reserves.
Agriculture offers a major support to the economic development of Kiribati. Though the total production is not really adequate with respect to the existing demands, they account for 14 percent to the national GDP in 1996. Moreover, Kiribati accounted for 71 percent of national employment in 1990, for engaging majority of the working people in agricultural sectors.
The industrial sector in Kiribati contributed only 7% of the national GDP in 1996, where the manufacturing sector offered merely 1%. However, these are not sufficient to meet the growing financial demands of the land. Hence, the country has to take resort to alternative options to tackle the shortage of funds.
Kiribati obtains a major bulk of its income from diverse activities like development assistance, providing employee remittance, fishing licenses, as well as tourist activities. The fishing fleets from countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and United States pay license charges to Kiribati to make use of its vast territorial water bodies. These licenses generate annual revenue of more than $20 million. Another $20 to $25 million of foreign income is generated in the form of direct financial transfers. The official development assistances bring in per annum revenues of about $15 million to $20 million from Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia. Relocation of funds from overseas Kiribati workers earns $5 million more in revenue form. Finally, it is the growing market for domestic tourism in the country which deposits some $5-$10 millions in the national exchequer.
Among the small industries in Kiribati, clothing and seafood are primary ones, followed by construction companies, a soft-drink plant, boat-building shops, laundries, a biscuit factory, bakeries, repair garages and furniture factories. Promotion of local handicrafts as one of the main domestic occupations is also done extensively. There is a pilot project in Kiritimati, which was established in 1985 for the production of solar-evaporated salts. But in the year 2000, the production of this company fell abruptly to 0.7% from 1.2% in 1999. Moreover, the constructions companies, which accounted for 2.7% of the Kiribati GDP in 2000, came down drastically from 4.6% in 1999.
People living below poverty line in Kiribati include 50% of the total population, while the rate of unemployment in the country as per the 1992 data is only 2%.
Until Kiribati arrive at a phase of complete economic independence, monetary aids from foreign lands mainly from the UK and Japan will continue to support the national GDP, to make it equal to 25%-50% in current years.
