Results for Economy and Trade

The World Bank has announced that it has setup a US$5 million support operation to aid Tonga’s recovering economy.

Cheaper fuel prices have been announced for mid-October to mid-November. The prices of Petrol, Kerosene and Diesel have all decreased compared to the prices approved for the last monthly period mid-September to mid-October.

The Asian Development Bank ADB is providing a USD$4.5 million grant to finance Tonga's efforts to achieve fiscal stability and to improve its long-term economic growth prospects.

A top priority for Tonga is a reduction in the size of its public service and a reduction of the wage bill to 45%, from the current height of about 75% of the government's annual budget, a new economic report by the Asian Development Bank recommends. It also recommended for government to appoint an Anti-corruption Commissioner.

The Minister of Finance, Hon. Lisiate 'Akolo has launched Tonga's biggest ever national budget amounting to T$357.6 million for the 2013-14 financial year, and expressed concern over low returns to government from public enterprises.

The National Reserve Bank of Tonga is running out of ideas on how to encourage commercial banks to lend more money at a time when the Tongan economy is very weak, the Reserve Bank Governor Siosi Mafi said on Friday May 3 when she presented the Monetary Policy Statement for the end of February.

Official Foreign Reserves held by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga have decreased for the first time in five months. The official reserve for the month of February was T$258 million. This is $2.3 million less than the reserve of $260 Million for January.

The Tongan economy is stuck in a "development trap", according an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on the current state of the Tongan economy that was released on Monday, March 25.

Foreign Reserves held by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga rose by $3.6 million, from $253.7 million in November to $257.3 million in December, or 9.3 months of imports.