Kiribati

THE nation faces particularly acute dif ficulties due to its resource poverty and its scattered coral atolls. Kiribati is made up of 33 islands that together make up just 800 square km of land area, and are host to 60,000 people, giving the country a pop ulation density of 88 people per square km.

But the country labours under the added difficulty of being scattered across five million square km of ocean, making even transport and communications prohibi tively expensive.

The country, rated a “Microstate” small populations and small land areas di vided between islands scattered over wide distances, remoteness from world mar kets, and with a high dependency on aid is destined to remain aid-dependent as it has no significant resources to exploit or base industries to rely on.

Kiribati has its Resource Equalisation Revenue Fund, which is based on the ac cumulated earnings from previous phos phate mining that is now exhausted. The fund contributes towards covering some of the country’s recurrent budgetary requirements.

The country has allowed its controver sial fishing deal with the Soviet Union to lapse after netting an estimated $2.4 mil lion. It is believed the Soviets were un willing to pay such a high premium for another year, which cast some doubts on the wealth of fish in Kiribati waters.

The nation is expected to benefit from payments, by the US Government and the American Tunaboat Association, for ac cess to its waters when the United States Congress ratifies the agreement signed in Tonga with the Forum Fisheries Agency last year.

This obligation, Mr McCabe said, should be particularly important to a small country wishing to decrease its depend ence on foreign aid.

Kiribati received foreign aid equal to more than half of its national income. The country’s GNP is just $A43m, giving it a per capita GNP of $650.