y, Teatao
TEANNAKI; New Movement Party, leader NA; Liberal Party, Tewareka
TENTOA; Maneaban Te Mauri Party, Teburoro TITO
note: there is no tradition of formally organized political parties in
Kiribati; they more closely resemble factions or interest groups
because they have no party headquarters, formal platforms, or party
structures

International organization participation: ACP, AsDB, C, ESCAP, IBRD,
ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IFC, IMF, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol,
ITU, Sparteca, SPC, SPF, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US: Kiribati does not have an embassy
in the US; there is an honorary consulate in Honolulu

Diplomatic representation from the US: the US does not have an embassy
in Kiribati; the ambassador to the Marshall Islands is accredited to
Kiribati

Flag description: the upper half is red with a yellow frigate bird
flying over a yellow rising sun, and the lower half is blue with three
horizontal wavy white stripes to represent the ocean

@Kiribati:Economy

Economy-overview: A remote country of 33 scattered coral atolls,
Kiribati has few national resources. Commercially viable phosphate
deposits were exhausted at the time of independence from the UK in
1979. Copra and fish now represent the bulk of production and exports.
The economy has fluctuated widely in recent years. Real GDP growth has
declined from about 10% in 1988 to about 2.6% in 1995 and 1.9% in
1996. Growth in 1997 was expected to parallel the 1996 performance.
Economic development is constrained by a shortage of skilled workers,
weak infrastructure, and remoteness from international markets. The
financial sector is at an early stage of development as is the
expansion of private sector initiatives. Foreign financial aid,
largely from the UK and Japan, is a critical supplement to GDP, equal
in amount to 25%-50% of GDP in recent years. Remittances from workers
abroad account for more than $5 million each year.

GDP: purchasing power parity-$62 million (1996 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 1.9% (1996 est.)

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$800 (1996 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 14%
industry: 7%
services: 79% (1996 est.)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: -0.6% (1996 est.)

Labor force:
total: 7,870 economically active, not including subsistence farmers
(1985 est.)

Unemployment rate: 2%; underemployment 70% (1992 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $33.3 million
expenditur