Export trade surplus

Ropate Valemei
Friday, March 29, 2013

PROVISIONAL data valued Fiji's import of services for June last year at $238.2million, according to a report released by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics this month.

Government statistician, Epeli Waqavonovono said this marked an increase of $4.4million compared to the previous corresponding quarter.

"The value of services exported in the same period was $499.1m, an increase of $19.7m compared to the previous corresponding quarter," Mr Waqavonovono said.

He said the trade services surplus in the March quarter last year amounted to $260.9m, $15.3m more than the March 2011 quarter surplus of $245.6m.

He said the services recording surpluses were travel services, a surplus of $249.5m reflected Fiji's earnings from tourism.

"Government services, a surplus of $48.6m resulted from funds received by foreign government and international agencies in Fiji," he said.

For manufacturing services, a surplus of $3.4m resulted from garments processed in Fiji.

Around $1.8m mainly driven by earnings from mining exploration services was noted in the report while a $0.4m surplus was derived from audio visual earnings and related services.

He said a surplus of $0.3m reflected higher receipts for services provided by the financial institutions.

However, Mr Waqavonovono said there were also deficits recorded.

"For transportation services, a deficit of $17.1m was mainly driven by payments of international sea freight services.

"A deficit of $16.7m was due to an increase in insurance paid on imported goods and a deficit of $8m reflected payments for telecommunication and other associated services such as internet," he said.

Mr Waqavonovono said a deficit of $0.9m was linked to royalty and licences while $0.4m attributed to payments for repair of goods.