Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 21 of 44 BACK | NEXT Country Reports East and Central Asia Mekong Pacific Cook Islands Fiji Islands Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Timor-Leste Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu South Asia Southeast Asia

Annual Report 2002 : Pacific

---

Kiribati

Economic performance

GDP growth in Kiribati in 2002 was estimated at 2.8%, up from 1.5% in 2001. Improved economic conditions were mainly attributed to the continued increase in government and donor spending; high consumer expenditure; and a rise in construction activity, largely from government development projects. The inflation rate decreased from 6.0% in 2001 to 5.1% in 2002, reflecting a fall in the price of food, beverages, and transport. The overall budget balance deteriorated from a surplus of 15.0% of GDP in 2001 to a deficit of 5.9% of GDP in 2002, primarily due to increased spending from a wage and salary bill, subsidies to government-owned enterprises and the copra industry, and the Government’s contribution to development projects.

ADB operations

Operational strategy: ADB’s strategy is based on the poverty reduction pillars of good governance, social development, and pro-poor economic growth. The strategy includes ways to improve public sector efficiency and effectiveness and strengthen the Government’s strategic planning capacity for sustainable poverty reduction, including ensuring access to safe water and proper sanitation in South Tarawa; improving living conditions and access to basic social services on the outer islands; promoting greater domestic use of the Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund resources for priority sectors; and creating an enabling environment for private sector development.

Policy dialogue: Ongoing dialogue with the Government focused on good governance, services delivery, and sound economic policy and management. There were also discussions on establishing a community-based island development trust fund and developing a poverty partnership agreement. ADB continued to assist in improving water and environmental management in
South Tarawa and in identifying policy changes for outer island development.

Loans and technical assistance: No loans were approved in 2002. Two technical assistance totaling $770,700 were approved (see tables 24 and 25 in the Statistical Annex).

Project implementation: Since joining ADB in 1974, Kiribati has received six loans totaling $15.1 million, of which one was active at the end of 2002. Contract awards totaled $3.6 million, bringing the cumulative figure to $10.6 million. The contract awards ratio for 2002 was 63.8%—higher than ADB’s average of 22.6%. Disbursements in 2002 totaled $810,000, bringing cumulative disbursements to $7.1 million. The disbursement ratio was 12.1%—lower than the ADB-wide average of 22.2% (see tables 14–23 in the Statistical Annex).

Back Fiji Islands	Next Marshall Islands