Economic growth

Growth in Tonga up due to post-cyclone reconstruction

ADB’s flagship annual economic publication, the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2019, says Tonga’s economy is set to grow by 2.1% in 2019, while growth will moderate slightly to 1.9% in 2020.

The ADB report says the contribution of tourism to Tonga’s gross domestic product (GDP) has grown steadily, albeit from a small base of only 7.0% of GDP in 2010, reaching 11.5% in 2017.

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.”

Tonga economic growth 2016/17 forecast at 3.7 per cent

According to the central bank, this followed a stronger growth of 3.7 per cent and 3.4 per cent for 2014/15 and 2015/16 respectively as indicated at the Statistics Department’s official estimate.

The projected growth for 2016/17 was mainly driven by anticipated growths in construction, utilities, fisheries and mining and quarry.

Several events scheduled for 2016/17 supported the growth in tourism and trade sectors.

At its meeting yesterday, the Reserve Bank’s board of directors approved to release its Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) for February 2017.

Tonga Skills initiative supports economic growth in Tonga

The initiative is aimed at supporting skills development in Tonga linked directly to inclusive economic growth.

Dr ‘Uhila Moe Langi Fasi, team leader of Tonga Skills says Tonga Skills just completed piloting a funding request process with monetary support to three training programs.

The training programs included skippers and swim-guide training for the whale watching industry, readiness for work training by the Tonga Youth Employment Entrepreneurship and social enterprise training in Vava’u by the Tonga National Youth Congress.

Finance Minister Confident Tonga Will Achieve Its Economic Target This Year

Dr. Eke highlighted this while opening the Government and Development Partners Forum meeting this week.

Tonga’s target for this year includes improving capacity in terms of investment in infrastructure and others and also for the economy to grow.

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. 

Reserve Bank forecasts 3% growth in 2016

This was revealed at a media conference on Friday.

NRBT Governor Ngongo Kioa made the comments in Nuku’alofa, following a meeting with Cabinet.

The forecast augurs well for Tonga, as the country slowly recovers.

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.