Economic growth

Vanuatu targets ‘new normal’ for agriculture sector in 2021

According to the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Antoine Ravo, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism, the devastation of TC Harold on the Northern Provinces, volcanic ashfall in Tanna, and recovery from the volcanic eruptions in Ambae and Ambrym, has seen agriculture come to the forefront as a key industry to support the country’s economic recovery.

“With an increase in resources to the agriculture sector, DARD is focusing on export-orientated programmes to capitalise on Vanuatu’s comparative advantage.”

BSP anticipates economic rebound

The proceeds from sovereign bond issue and concessional drawdowns have increased the international reserves to around US$2.5bn at the end of 2018. 

Rohan George, Group General Manager Treasury, stated: “Much needed relief was given to the market through the conversion of sovereign bond and concessional loan drawdowns. The number of outstanding foreign currency orders significantly reduced by 50 percent in the second half of 2018, and have declined by 70 percent over the past 12 months.”

Vanuatu reports strong economic growth in 2017

The strong performance in 2017 can be attributed to the positive growth in all three industries, agriculture, industry and services.  

The GDP growth in 2017 was mainly driven by industry, followed by services and agriculture.

A VNSO release said though the overall performance in industry has continued from the strong growth in two previous years, its contribution to GDP growth is less than services and agriculture.

Pacific Economic growth slowed by fiscal, disaster related challenges

ADB’s flagship annual economic publication, Asian Development Outlook 2016, projects that Pacific economies will grow by an average 3.8% in 2016, down from 7.0% last year, mainly due to pressures faced by Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji—the region’s largest economies. 

LNG and tourism behind Pacific economy’s 9.9% growth:ADB

However, the report warns that growth in the Pacific is expected to fall to about 5% in 2016, as the one-off boost from the first full-year of PNG’s natural gas exports dissipates.

“Cyclone Pam and Typhoon Maysak again highlight the vulnerability of Pacific economies to disaster risks, which are the highest in the world,’ said Xianbin Yao, Director General of ADB’s Pacific Department.