Economy - overview: The economy consists primarily of subsistence agriculture and fishing. The government is the major employer of the work force, relying heavily on financial assistance from the US. The population enjoys a per capita income of more than twice that of the Philippines and much of Micronesia. Long-run prospects for the tourist sector have been greatly bolstered by the expansion of air travel in the Pacific and the rising prosperity of leading East Asian countries.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $160 million (1997 est.)
note: GDP numbers reflect US spending

GDP - real growth rate: 10% (1997 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,800 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA%

Labor force: NA

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%

Unemployment rate: 7%

Budget:
revenues: $52.9 million
expenditures: $59.9 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)

Industries: tourism, craft items (from shell, wood, pearls), construction, garment making

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 200 million kWh (1996)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 85%
hydro: 15%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1996)

Electricity - consumption: 200 million kWh (1996)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1996)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1996)

Agriculture - products: coconuts, copra, cassava (tapioca), sweet potatoes

Exports: $14.3 million (f.o.b., 1996)

Exports - commodities: trochus (type of shellfish), tuna, copra, handicrafts

Exports - partners: US, Japan

Imports: $72.4 million (f.o.b., 1996)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, fuels

Imports - partners: US

Debt - external: about $100 million (1989)

Economic aid - recipient: $155.8 million (1995); note - the Compact of Free Association with the US, entered into after the end of the UN trusteeship on 1 October 1994, will provide Palau with up to $700 million in US aid over 15 years in return for furnishing military facilities

Currency: 1 United States dollar (US$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: US currency is used

Fiscal year: 1 October - 30 September