Tonga - Economic sectors

According to the Asian Development Bank, Tonga's economic sectors contributed to total GDP in 1999 in the following proportion: agriculture, fishing, and hunting, 29.9 percent; industry, 10.7 percent; services, 43.8 percent; other, 15.7 percent. In 1996, the same source reported that the total labor force of 33,900 was distributed in these sectors as follows: agriculture, 34 percent; industry, 22.8 percent; services, 43.2 percent.

The agriculture sector's contribution to GDP has been fairly consistent, dropping slightly from 31.6 percent in 1984 to 29.9 percent in 1999. Between 1994 and 1996, Tonga experienced a downturn in agricultural performance, along with declining price competitiveness internationally, and a weakening level of remittances from

overseas migrants. This caused high unemployment in 1996. Industry, which contributed 10.7 percent of GDP in 1999, is made up of relatively small-scale processing of food and timber products for the local market, as well as small factories making products for export, including woolen goods. The service sector is the largest, made up mostly of the government subsector, and a smaller tourism one.