Hardship not poverty prevalent in Tonga


THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB) says 23 percent of 16 communities surveyed in Tonga's six islands live under the poverty line of T$28.18 (USD$14.70) per person per week. The report titled, “Hardship and Poverty in Tonga”, was recently published by the ADB.

The islands surveyed were Tongatapu, Ha'apai, Vava'u, 'Eua, Niuatoputapu and Niuafo'ou. The report said that living under such a condition these poor families had to make difficult daily choices between “buying food or paying school fees.” The figures were based on an analysis of the Household Income and Expenditure survey of 2001.

To have a clear understanding of the Tongan situation, it was necessary for the assessors to define hardship or tu'utamaki, and poverty or masiva. Poverty or masiva, is being without or having limited access to land, food, housing, education, health services, and money. Hardship, or tu'utamaki, is living in a very difficult situation, being dependent on relatives for food, money and shelter, and supporting dependents in the household. Hardship was also strongly associated with the inability to meet the family's basic needs and traditional obligations (kavenga) and having limited resources, particularly land. After defining poverty and hardship, there was a conscious view among the parties involved that hardship and not poverty was evident in Tonga because Tongans seemed to have access to food.

According to the report, hardship was the result of limited access to markets, poorly maintained or lack of rural roads, inadequate medical supplies and trained staff, and the high cost of water tanks and education services, which hindered the people from raising their own standards of living.

The Tongan government has been asked to create more income-generating opportunities through better access to land for those without an allocation and assist with marketing produce, particularly for people in the outer islands. Also the government should improve access and quality of available basic services like power, water supply, health, education, and roads through regular maintenance.


Datec on a merger path

Datec Group Ltd, a Canadian-based information technology products, software and service supply company operating in nine South Pacific countries, plans to merge with Elandia Solutions, Inc, a Florida (US) wireless communications and cable television equipment company. The deal is subject to Elandia completing the purchase of AST Telecom LLS, which runs as Blue Sky Communications in operating wireless telephone services in American Samoa. Datec said it estimated its shares would be between 29 and 32.5 percent of the merged company. The merger is subject to Datec shareholders and regulatory approvals. The company has announced a 2004 loss of $976,871 on revenue of $48.6 million (2003 profit $1,598,921) due to what it said were poor results in Fiji, where staff changes and reorganisation were underway, and in Australia, where the branch was being “restructured” to a more “cost-efficient” size.


Fiji's economic growth dives

Fiji's economic growth this year will fall to about 1.5 percent of GDP from an estimated 3.8 percent in 2004 because of the closure of the garment factories that lost their United States market at the end of 2004, when their quotas expired, according to the Reserve Bank of Fiji. It said the manufacturing sector was “shrinking considerably” due to the closure of factories that employed about 4000 people. Garment factories that employ 8000 other workers are expected to continue to supply Australian buyers under a fresh round of concessions to be extended to the Fiji industry by Australia. The bank said other sectors of the economy such as tourism and gold mining were expanded to maintain their momentum for growth, while reforms of the sagging sugar industry were expected to lift sugar output. The bank said the 2004 inflation of 4.5 percent was expected to average 3.5 percent in 2005, provided an application by the Bus Operators Association for a nine percent increase in bus fares was rejected by the Transport Control Board.


Fiji Water in court

The Fiji Supreme Court is dealing with an action in which a former shareholder and managing director of a mineral water bottler, Fiji Water, Januz Kubs, is suing the company's former owner, Canadian David Gilmour, for allegedly misleading him and pressuring him to sell his shares. Gilmour has dropped a counter-action. Fiji Water, now a major seller in the United States, was bought from Gilmour in 2004 by an American company, Roll International. Exports, mainly to the United States, are running at more than F$30 million (US$18 million) a year and continue to grow rapidly.


Fuel alternatives proposal revived

The Fiji Government has revived proposals to build a biofuel industry for manufacturing local biomass resources into fuel as an alternative to imported petrol, diesel oil and kerosene. Production would be based mainly on sugar.


Website for Samoa hotels

Samoa's hotels association has launched a website and online booking service (www.samoa-hotels.ws) with the help of the Pacific Enterprise Development Facility, an arm of the International Finance Corporation and World Bank.


Mbf's Suva project

Mbf Holdings Bhd of Malaysia, owner of the Carpenter group of companies in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, has stated it will buy a two-hectare site from the Suva City Council for RM10.1 million and use the land for a “large scale multi-faceted development”. The purchase will be funded by borrowings from the bank.