Balance of Payments
Phosphate is Nauru’s only product for export, although the government also receives relatively significant foreign exchange income from licencing its rich skipjack tuna fishing grounds to foreign fishing vessels, which land an annual average of 50,000 tonnes of Nauru zone-caught tuna overseas. In 2004 income from phosphate export was US$640,000, with Australia, New Zealand and Japan serving as the country's major export markets. In the same year the Nauru government budget shows that income from licencing foreign fishing vessels was over US$3,000,000.
Nauru needs to import almost all basic and capital goods, including food, water, fuel, and manufactured goods, with Australia and New Zealand as its major import sources. In 2004 Nauru’s imports totaled about US$19.8 million.
Read more about this topic: Economy Of Nauru
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