Economy — Tonga
GDP, employment, industries, public finance, and currency.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Economy at a glance
GDP, employment, industries, public finance, and currency. Key figure for Tonga: Tonga has a small, open island economy and is the last constitutional monarchy among the Pacific Island countries. It has a narrow export base in agricultural goods. Squash, vanilla beans, and yams are the main crops. Agricultural exports, including fish, make up two-thirds of total exports. Tourism is the second-lar…
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Economic overview
- Economic Overview
Tonga has a small, open island economy and is the last constitutional monarchy among the Pacific Island countries.
It has a narrow export base in agricultural goods.
Squash, vanilla beans, and yams are the main crops.
Agricultural exports, including fish, make up two-thirds of total exports.
Tourism is the second-largest source of hard currency earnings following remittances.
Tonga had 53,800 visitors in 2015.
The country must import a high proportion of its food, mainly from New Zealand.
The country remains dependent on external aid and remittances from overseas Tongans to offset its trade deficit.
The government is emphasizing the development of the private sector, encouraging investment, and is committing increased funds for health care and education.
Tonga's English-speaking and educated workforce offers a viable labor market, and the tropical climate provides fertile soil.
Renewable energy and deep-sea mining also offer opportunities for investment.
Tonga has a reasonably sound basic infrastructure and well developed social services.
But the government faces high unemployment among the young, moderate inflation, pressures for democratic reform, and rising civil service expenditures.
- Industries
tourism, fishing
- GDP - per capita (PPP)
$5,100.00 (USD)
- GDP - real growth rate
2.7%
GDP & growth
- GDP - Gross Domestic Product (PPP)
$670,000,000 (USD)
- GDP Per Capita
$5,100.00 (USD)
- GDP - real growth rate
2.7%
- GDP - official exchange rate
$443,000,000 (USD)
- GDP - composition, by end use
- household consumption: 79.9%
- government consumption: 21.6%
- investment in fixed capital: 40.2%
- investment in inventories: 0%
- exports of goods and services: 18.7%
- imports of goods and services: -60.4%
- GDP by Sector- agriculture
18.3%
- GDP by Sector- Industry
18.8%
- GDP by Sector- services
62.9%
- Industrial Growth Rate
1%
Prices & money
- Inflation Rate
5.9%
- Exchange Rate per US Dollar
pa'anga (TOP)
- Currency Name and Code
Pa'anga (TOP)
- Fiscal Year
1 July - 30 June
- Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
10.9%
Employment & labor
- Labor Force
39,960
- Unemployment Rate
13%
- Major Industries
tourism, fishing
- Agriculture Products
squash, coconuts, copra, bananas, vanilla beans, cocoa, coffee, ginger, black pepper; fish
- Population Below Poverty Line
24%
Public finance
- Annual Budget
$80,480,000 (USD)
- Taxes and other revenues - percent of GDP
23.6%
