Economy - overview:
The economy suffers from the typical Pacific island problems of geographic isolation, few resources, and a small population. The agricultural sector consists mainly of subsistence gardening, although some cash crops are grown for export. Industry consists primarily of small factories for processing passion fruit, lime oil, honey, and coconut cream. The sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors is an important source of revenue.
Government expenditures regularly exceed revenues, and the shortfall is made up by critically needed grants from New Zealand that are used to pay wages to public employees. Economic aid allocation from New Zealand in FY13/14 was US$10.1 million. Niue has cut government expenditures by reducing the public service by almost half.
The island in recent years has suffered a serious loss of population because of emigration to New Zealand. Efforts to increase GDP include the promotion of tourism and financial services, although the International Banking Repeal Act of 2002 resulted in the termination of all offshore banking licenses.
Definition: This entry briefly describes five economic components for a given country:
* National Economy, including a brief economic history;
* Domestic Markets, including labor and wage markets as well as brief commentary on economic sector portfolios;
* Financial Power and Public Finance, including brief discussions of financial market strengths and security, lending/exchange rates (especially if abnormalities exist), and foreign direct investments;
* Trade Power and Influence, including brief commentary on chief imports and exports; and
* Regional Strategy and Efforts, including key partners, regional economic development efforts, and any underlying economic data integrity concerns.
Source: CIA World Factbook - This page was last updated on Saturday, September 18, 2021
