Economy of the Marshall Islands
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The government of the Marshall Islands is the largest employer, employing 30.6% of the work force, down by 3.4% since 1988. GDP is derived mainly from payments made by the United States under the terms of the Compact of Free Association. Direct U.S. aid accounted for 60% of the Marshalls' $90 million budget.
The economy combines a small subsistence sector and a modern urban sector. In short, fishing and breadfruit, banana, taro, and pandanus cultivation constitute the subsistence sector. On the outer islands, production of copra and handicrafts income provide cash income. The modern service-oriented economy is located in Majuro and Ebeye. It is sustained by government expenditures and the U.S. Army installation at Kwajalein Atoll. The airfield there also serves as a second national hub for international flights.
The modern sector consists of wholesale and retail trade; restaurants; banking and insurance; construction, repair, and professional services; and copra processing. Copra cake and oil are by far the nation's largest exports. A tuna loining plant employs 300 workers, mostly women, at $1.50 per hour. Copra production, the most important single commercial activity for the past 100 years, now depends on government subsidies. The subsidies, more a social policy than an economic strategy, help reduce migration from outer atolls to densely populated Majuro and Ebeye.
Marine resources, including fishing, aquaculture, tourism development, and agriculture, are top government development priorities. The Marshall Islands sells fishing rights to other nations as a source of income. In recent years, the Marshall Islands has begun to offer ship registrations under the Marshall Islands flag. As a small nation, the Marshall Islands must import a wide variety of goods, including foodstuffs, consumer goods, machinery, and petroleum products.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $115 million (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 1% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2 300 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 15%
industry: 13%
services: 72% (1995)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5% (1997)
Labor force: NA
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate: 16% (1991 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $80.1 million
expenditures: $77.4 million, including capital expenditures of $19.5 million (FY95/96 est.)
Industries: copra, fish, tourism, craft items from shell, wood, and pearls, offshore banking (embryonic)
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - production: 57 GWh (1994)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA%
nuclear: NA%
other: NA%
Electricity - consumption: 57 GWh (1994)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1994)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1994)
Agriculture - products: coconuts, cacao, taro, breadfruit, fruits; pigs, chickens
Exports: $28 million (f.o.b., 1997 est.)
Exports - commodities: fish, coconut oil, fish, trochus shells
Exports - partners: United States, Japan, Australia
Imports: $58 million (f.o.b., 1997 est.)
Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels, beverages and tobacco
Imports - partners: United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Singapore
Debt - external: $125 million (FY96/97 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: approximately $65 million annually from the US
Currency: 1 United States dollar (US$) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: US currency is used
Fiscal year: 1 October - 30 September
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[edit] Coconut oil
On September 15, 2007, Witon Barry, of the Tobolar Copra processing plant in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro said power authorities, private companies and entrepreneurs had been experimenting with coconut oil as an alternative to diesel fuel for vehicles, power generators and ships. Coconut trees abound in the Pacific's tropical islands. Copra, from 6 to 10 coconuts makes 1 litre oil.[1]
