Falklands : State Falklands’ Economy Discussed at Public Meeting
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 23.10.2009 (Article Archived on 06.11.2009)
A public meeting on the state of the Falkland Islands’ Economy was held in the Court and Council Chamber of the Town Hall on Thursday, 22 October 2009. Presenting the results via Power Point was Mr Michael Poole of the Policy Department and Mr Keith Padgett, Head of Finance.
PUBLIC MEETING THURSDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2009
The State of the Falkland Islands’ Economy
By J. Brock (FINN)
A public meeting on the state of the Falkland Islands’ Economy was held in the Court and Council Chamber of the Town Hall on Thursday, 22 October 2009. Presenting the results via Power Point was Mr Michael Poole of the Policy Department and Mr Keith Padgett, Head of Finance.
The figures only went as far as 2007 because of the tax year ending in May/June. It is hoped that figures can be more current in future but this will take more work by the Policy Unit and the authorities concerned. 2008 figures will be available at the end of the year.
The report by the Policy Unit was divided into five sections: 1.What are National Accounts, 2.Why produce National Accounts, 3. GDP Overview (Including Tourism), 4.BOP and GNI Overview, and 5.Further Macroeconomic Indicators.
Mr Poole, who did the presentation, said that national accounts are a set of statistics measuring the performance of the various sectors of the economy and they were produced for international economic comparisons that abide by the International Monetary Funds (IMF) guidance and qualification criteria for someEU and other international development funds.
He then went on to an overview of GDP estimates, saying it was for the purpose of clarity and confidentiality that various industries in the Falkland Islands have been split into nine broad sectors. Each sector had at least three firms in it and no one firm held more than 70% of the business share. The sectors are: Agriculture, Fishing, Mining,(Quarrying and Manufacturing), Utilities, Construction, Hospitality and Transport (including Retail and Wholesale), Housing and other services, Communication(Finance, Business Services, Real Estate), and Government including Health and Education. The relevance of Nominal GDP – Value expressed in the £ value of the day and Real GDP – value adjusted for information/price changes over time were explained and a graph showing how they compared with each other over the years was presented.
Other graphs and charts included “Nominal and Real GDP (Excluding Fisheries), Compounded Annual Industry Growth 1998 – 2007 and Comparing Then and Now: 1998 vs 2007.
The newly launched Tourism Satellite Account was then discussed in relation to GDP for the 9 industry sectors previously listed. Each industry had separate GDP figures that had Tourism aspects removed so that a better idea about the affect of Tourism on the economy could be assessed. Questions asked of 600 cruise passengers and 500 land based tourists helped to assess the domestic and International tourism consumption. The accompanying chart estimated that the figure was 83.6%
The next chart showed “Tourism Expenditure in 2007.” Three areas were assessed – inbound, domestic and internal. Tourists spent their money on Accommodation, Food and beverage serving services, transport, travel agencies, tours and guides, tourism goods and services and other products. In 2007 direct tourism GDP was £3.2 Million. When cruise ships were added, the taxes, charges and dues expanded that figure to £4.4Million. As a percentage of overall GDP, tourism came in at 4.2%. Adding indirect impact as a percentage of GDP bumped that figure up to 5.0%. The final figure on the chart was 10.4%, which was TVA as a percentage of GDP. Another chart indicated where the Falkland Islands stood in comparison to other countries.
BOP/GNI Estimates were defined as the record of transactions between FI residents and Foreign residents over a specified period. GDP accounts show what is produced domestically; Balance of Payments is the country’s external accounts and shows amounts received from the rest of the world and amounts spent or owed abroad. Balance of Payment statistics show a country’s vulnerability. Goods and services received from other countries exceeding the amount we sell outside of the Islands means we have a debit balance. A credit balance is when the reverse is true. The BOP Summary shows that the Falklands had a credit balance of £5,534.00 in 2007. In 2007 the Falklands’ Gross National Income is listed as £80,304,178.00 based on an estimated population of 3,001 This means per capita GDP was £34,944.00 and GNI per Capita was £26,759.00.
Further Macroeconomic Indicators show that Falkland Islands’ inflation is more volatile than most developed nations but on an average over 20 years it is very close to that experienced in the UK.
The final chart showed an employment overview based on POAT returns to the tax office each month throughout the tax year. The latest figure on employment is from 2008 and it indicates that 1737 people were working during that year.
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