New Caledonia Economy:
New Caledonia has about 25% of the world's known nickel resources. Only a small amount of the land is suitable for cultivation, and food accounts for about 20% of imports. In addition to nickel, substantial financial support from France - equal to more than one-fourth of GDP - and tourism are keys to the health of the economy. Substantial new investment in the nickel industry, combined with the recovery of global nickel prices, brightens the economic outlook for the next several years.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$3.16 billion (2003 est.)
GDP — real growth rate:
NA
GDP — per capita:
purchasing power parity: $15,000 (2003 est.)
GDP — composition by sector:
agriculture: 5%
industry: 30%
services: 65%
(1997)
Labor force:
79,400 (including 15,018 unemployed) (1996 est.)
Labor force — by occupation:
agriculture: 7%, industry: 23%, services: 70% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate:
19% (1996 est.)
Population below poverty line:
NA
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.6% (2000 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $861.3 million
expenditures: $735.3 million including capital expenditures of $52 million (1996 est.)
Agriculture — products:
Vegetables; beef, deer, other livestock products
Industries:
nickel mining and smelting
Industrial production growth rate:
-0.6% (1996 est.)
Electricity — production:
1.58 billion kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — consumption:
1.47 billion kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — exports:
0 kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity — imports:
0 kWh (2002 est.)
Oil — production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil — consumption:
8,750 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil — exports:
NA
Oil — imports:
NA
Exports:
$448 million (f.o.b. 2002 est.)
Exports — commodities:
ferronickels, nickel ore, fish
Exports — partners:
Japan 22%, France 16.5%, Taiwan 12.3%, South Korea 12%, Spain 6.3%, Australia 6.1%, China 4.8%, South Africa 4.5% (2004)
Imports:
$1.01 billion (f.o.b. 2002 est.)
Imports — commodities:
machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, foodstuffs
Imports — partners:
France 40.3%, Singapore 10.9%, Australia 9.1%, New Zealand 4.9% (2004)
Debt — external:
$79 million (1998 est.)
Economic aid — recipient:
$880 million annual subsidy from France (1998 est.)
Currency:
Comptoirs Francais du Pacifique franc (XPF)
Exchange rates:
Comptoirs Francais du Pacifique francs (XPF) per US$: 96.04 (2004 est.), 105.66 (2003 est.), 126.71 (2002 est.), 133.26 (2001 est.), 129.43 (2000 est.)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
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