releases

Economy

World Bank releases

Gnp

data

By David North

Fiji’s per capita gross national prod uct (GNP) is the highest in the South Pacific, but PNG’s grew the fastest in the region.

These and other data were just released by the World Bank as part of its annual, world-wide survey of economic conditions.

Fiji’s per capita GNP went from US$2O5O in 1992 to $2140 in 1993, for an increase of 4.1 per cent . PNG’s GNP rose by 13.1 percent from $990 to $ll2O. This was the largest increase in the region, moving up from $l5lO to $l6lO, a positive change of 6.6 percent.

Other increases were shown by Western Samoa, up 2.1 percent to $9BO, and by the Solomons, up by 2.1 percent to $750.

Remaining dead level were Vanuatu at $1230 in both years, and Kiribati at $7lO in both 1992 and 1993.

While all the island GNPs are small compared to those of the developed world, they either held their own in 1993, or increased, in some cases sharply.

Many nations were not as lucky; most ex-Soviet republics fell by as much as 20 percent and even relatively pros perous Australia dropped from $17,730 to $17,510. New Zealand, on the other hand, was up a bit from $12,660 to $12,900.

PNG’s rate of increase was some of the largest in the world, exceeded by only a few others, such as Argentina, up 18.1 percent and both Hong Kong and Singapore, each up about 13 7 percent.

Taiwan, one of the “Little Tigers” proba bly did as well as the other two, but because of the international politics, Taiwan is not a member of the World Bank.

Meanwhile, nearby Indonesia moved a bit ahead of Kiribati in 1993, increasing from $6BO to $730. All other nations in the South Pacific continued to do better than those rich, but crowd ed islands to the west of PNG.

Gross national product is a long established but rough measure of eco nomic performance, it covers all goods and services produced within a nation in a 12-month period; per capita GNP is that number divided by the population.

GNP does not, however, take into account the cost of living. For example, people in the North Atlantic island of Iceland do have a much higher per capi

ta GNP than those in the South Pacific islands, but Iceland’s costs, such as the construction of stout houses against the cold, of heating those houses, and of importing most of its food, are not part of this reckoning.

So Iceland’s thunderous GNP of $24,300 in 1992 - even more than that recorded for the US in that year - is a bit misleading. It costs much more to live in Iceland than in Tonga, for instance.

Which leads us to this question - has any PIM reader ever lived in both places and experienced these differential costs (and temperatures). If so, drop us a line. ■