Results for Economy and Trade

Tonga's bankers, who are very concerned with Tonga's currently depressed export earnings, and its reliance on aid donors and foreign remittances for its source of foreign earnings, will meet today to consider solutions.

The current value of the Tongan Pa‘anga continues to steadily weaken against the Australian and New Zealand dollar at the same it strengthens against the US dollar.

The Tonga Customs Department reintroduced the charging of Customs Duties on personal belongings last week after a lapse of nearly two years.

Tonga's Foreign Reserve of July fell by $1.3 million from $91.6 million in June, to $90.3 million in July, an amount equivalent to 4.3 months of imports of goods.

The price of electricity throughout Tonga will go up by 6.8 seniti per unit at the next meter reading in early August. The 11% increase is retrospective to the July electricity use.

Tonga will become a full member of the World Trade Organisation on July 27, after filing formal ratification papers with the WTO Headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday.

The ACP Council of Ministers will hold its 85th session in ACP House (Brussels), from 22 to 24 May 2007, under the chairmanship of Lesotho.

Tonga's Minister of Finance Hon Siosiua T. T. 'Utoikamanu, has again expressed his concern over the projected significant decline of government's revenues, urging tighter government spending, and warning that government has few options for recovery after its reserves were used to pay for the civil service pay settlements last year.

At the end of day one of Tonga's first National Economic Summit, the one thing that is clear, is that government has diligently mapped out the direction of the summit, aiming to create new economic and trade policy making bodies.