te 240, 2233 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007
telephone: [1] (202) 337-8320
FAX: [1] (202) 337-1996
consulate(s): New York

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Larry M.
DINGER
embassy: 31 Loftus Street, Suva
mailing address: P. O. Box 218, Suva
telephone: [679] 314466
FAX: [679] 300081

Flag description: 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

@Fiji:Economy

Economy-overview: Fiji, 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 a growing tourist industry are the major sources of foreign
exchange. 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.
Fiji's growth slowed in 1997 because the sugar industry suffered from
low world prices and rent disputes between farmers and landowners.

GDP: purchasing power parity-$5.1 billion (1996 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 3% (1996)

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$6,500 (1996 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 21%
industry: 18%
services: 61% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: 3% (1997 est.)

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

Unemployment rate: 6% (1997 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $540.65 million
expenditures: $742.65 million, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1997 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate: 2.9% (1995)

Electricity-capacity: 200,000 kW (1995)

Electricity-production: 545 million kWh (1995)

Electricity-consumption per capita: 705 kWh (1995)

Agriculture-products: sugarcane, coconuts, cassava (tapioca), rice,
sweet potatoes, bananas; cattle, pigs, horses, goats; fish catch
13,796 tons (1991)

Exports:
total value: $639 million (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: sugar 32%, clothing,