Results for Economy

A new Foreign Exchange Control Act 2018 that gives the National Reserve Bank of Tonga sweeping powers to selectively stop Tongan residents from investing offshore and from holding overseas bank accounts, property and other offshore assets, is not currently being enforced. The Governor of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga, Dr Ngongo Kioa, said today that the new Act awaits regulations and directives from Crown Law.

Tonga’s official foreign reserve continued to grow as the National Reserve Bank of Tonga recorded an increase of $26.8 million for the month of June. The reserves rose to $468.7 million, equivalent to 8.1 months of imports.

New financial knowledge and skills have been developed in the Pacific Islands over the last seven years following initiatives by banks to broaden access to financial services for many more people. Ressa Price, the ANZ regional Executive Director for the Pacific, visiting Tonga on November 16, released a report on the the impact of the bank's MoneyMinded program that was launched in 2010 in a number of Pacific Islands countries,

The World Bank is convinced that its Pacific Possible PP initiatives will boost economic growth in the Pacific Island Countries PIC over the next 25 years.

A new customs duty and excise tax introduced last year has driven import prices up causing inflation to hit significantly high levels in Tonga. Annual inflation rose by 10% over the year to May 2017 - well above the National Reserve Bank of Tonga's reference rate of 5%.

Tongan handicrafts were showcased by local artists to Crown Princess Sinaitakala Tuku’aho on Thursday, June 8 at a True Tonga Inc. meeting held at the Tanoa International Dateline Hotel.

Two key challenges that the Tongan government faces now are to manage carefully its wages bill and also its financing of the 2019 South Pacific Games related constructions. The World Bank also believes that Tonga should undergo an economic reform to shore up its revenue, “contain unproductive spending while boosting critical expenditures on health and education, and build up buffers against shocks.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a preliminary statement this week that Tonga’s “economic activity is expanding and likely to remain relatively strong into the next couple of years”. However, the IMF found that there was a lack of recent statistical information available such as government finance, inflation, balance of payments, and national accounts data for their assessment of economic development.

Economic forecasts show that while the Tongan economy is expected to grow by 3.1 % in the current financial year up to 30 June 2017, it will not maintain that growth rate.