Bullish voices are

Vanuatu

Bullish voices are to be heard in the land

Vanuatu’s 1984 economic out look is secure, though there will certainly be areas of difficulty as the country struggles towards the

Vanuaaku Party’s goal of

economic independence by

1992.

At present the government

Budget is still heavily dependent

on overseas aid from Britain and France, the two former con dominium powers, but this recur rent budgeting aid is being phased out year by year.

Accordingly, the government must urgently find new sources of revenue to fill the gap, or cut back on spending.

One new source of revenue being considered is heavier im port duties on many items deemed non-essential, such as alcohol. Fairly nominal school fees have also been imposed on all primary school attenders, which has proved a shock to a population used to free provision of services by the metropolitan powers.

However, spending cutbacks have also been announced, to the dismay of the various govern ment departments involved. In education for example, an area where an increase of money is needed to upgrade facilities and teachers’ salaries, cutbacks are likely to mean the closure of some of the smaller rural schools in 1984.

The accountant-general’s re port on government finances for 1983 spoke of preventable waste and loss of income from causes such as uncollected rents, for example, or accountable im prests unaccountably “lost”.

However, the report also con gratulated the government on in troducing firmer controls on use of money, and looked forward to an eradication of these abuses.

Meanwhile, the private economy is flourishing, both in towns and in the rural sector. The boom in tourism is responsible for a resurgence in retailing and

in the building and construction industry. New restaurants and cafes are opening, and the sale of goods from the Handicrafts Centre also channels tourist money into remote rural areas.

The current mosquito eradication campaign in Port-Vila is as much in recognition of the economic importance of tourism (vulner able to malaria or dengue fever scares) as in concern for com

munity health.

Vanuatu’s copra is still the main foreign currency earner.

Prices have improved greatly

during the last 12 months, and seem strong for 1984. A grave problem here is the urgent need for replanting many older plantations had been allowed to run down before independence, and the trees are now reaching the end of their productive lives.

Replanting is proceeding, but a dip in copra earnings may be expected until the new trees be come productive. New crops, too, are diverting attention from copra, which adds a further ele ment of uncertainty.

Other agricultural pursuits are going ahead strongly. The clos ing weeks of 1983 saw the ex pansion of the Vanuatu Cattle Association into the Vanuatu Chamber of Agriculture, a body of private business people who are working to upgrade standards

of produce and marketing.

Foreign investment is also strongest in the rural sector. Af ter a period of initial caution after

independence, money is begin

ning to flow into the country.

The Centre for Industrial De velopment, an agency of the European Economic Communi ty, has promoted interest in Pacific countries, and Vanuatu has benefited from this, as well as from its tax-free status and

good social relationships bet

ween races, both of which tend

to attract investment.

Julie-

Ann Ellis.