Fiji exports
p. 35 · Read in the full issue
to NZ booming
NEW Zealand and Fiji may still have political and diplomatic differences to settle, but trade between the two countries is booming.
Figures released by the Ministry of External Relations and Trade in Wel lington show that Fiji exports to New
Zealand totalled NZ5126.6 million (US$93.l million) in the year to June 1990. This is a significant climb back following the dislocation caused by the military coups in Suva; in the year to June 1988, Fiji exported only NZ$lB million worth of goods to its southern neighbour. The largest single component of the latest figures is clothing, which reflected the extraodinary growth of garment factories in Fiji’s tax-free zones.
The balance of trade is still in New
Zealand’s favour, but at NZ$l47 million there is little difference.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Statistics in Suva has reported that Fiji showed a balance of payments surplus of F 548.4 million (U 5533.4 million) for the nine months to last September, compared to a deficit of F 533.7 million for the same period in 1989. Earnings from sugar, unrefined gold, fish, timber, garments, molasses and coconut oil accounted for 73 per cent of total export receipts. □