Provisional data provided by the Ministry of Finance in May 2002 projected that the economy would expand by 1.6 percent in real terms during the financial year 2001/02. This was attributed mainly to growth in Construction, Mining and Quarrying, Electricity & Water, Manufacturing, Transportation and Communication, and Finance and Business Services. Commerce, Hotels and Restaurants were expected to decline.

The favourable weather conditions and abundance of rainfall during the first half of the financial year had a favourable impact on agricultural production. The supply of agricultural produce (mostly root crops and fruit and vegetables) at the Talamahu market increased by 53.4 percent during the first half of the financial year. However, the volume supplied to the market fell by 18.2 percent during the second half of the year. This decline reflected the impact of the agricultural products that were sent to Vava’u and the Niua groups to assist with the devastation caused by cyclone Waka and a seasonal decline in the supplies of fruits and vegetables. Over the year, the supplies of agricultural produce to Talamahu Market increased by 22.8 percent compared to the previous financial year.

Agricultural exports were led by squash with over 16,000 tonnes (Quarantine and Management Division) exported during the financial year 2001/02. This was 13.0 percent higher than the previous year, with average prices reported to be higher compared to the previous year. Based on the Overseas Exchange Transactions recorded by the commercial banks, squash exports receipts amounted to $14.7 million in the 2001/02 season, compared with $7.6 million in the previous season. Higher market prices and favourable weather conditions contributed to the higher return on squash during the year.

Exports of root crops (which comprise Kape, Cassava, Swamp Taro, Taro Taruas, Yams and Sweet Potatoes) amounted to $1.8 million during the financial year 2001/02, a decline of 8.7 percent compared with the $2.0 million during the previous financial year. Taro Taruas accounted for 45.7 percent of total root crop exports, a pick up from 34.3 percent during the previous year while yams and sweet potatoes represented 25.9 percent, an increase from 10.2 percent last year.

The exports of kava during the financial year 2001/02 amounted to $0.5 million. This was an increase of 91.2 percent compared with the 45.1 percent declined during the previous financial year. Market prices grew steadily while volumes increased by 51.8 percent compared to the previous year. The kava industry appears to increase growth despite the effects of cyclone Waka and the alleged side effects of kava.

Vanilla production continued to decline significantly during the year, with only 2.7 tonnes exported during 2001/02, compared with 14.6 tonnes during the year 2000/01. The low vanilla prices between 1997 and 2000, discouraged farmers and most of the vanilla plantations were destroyed to make room for other higher priced agricultural produce. However, due to recent significant rises in the price of vanilla, growers have been encouraged to grow more and to revive existing vanilla plantations.

Base on the data collected from a survey conducted by the Reserve Bank, fish exports during the year 2001/02 amounted to $10.9 million, a 5.5 percent decline compared with $11.5 million during the previous financial year. The decline in the value of fish exports, reflected the 9.0 percent decline in the volume of exported fish. The following were quoted as the major factors that contributed to the reduction in the volume of fish export; lower catch due to warm weather, less airfreight space available for fish export and a major fishing export company concentrated on the domestic market. Local sales recorded a total of $1.5 million during the year 2001/02, a 19.4 percent decline compared with $1.9 million during the previous year.

The total number of visitors that arrived into the Kingdom during the financial year 2001/02 was 36,252, of which 96.0 percent arrived by air. This is a decline of 6.1 percent compared with 2000/01. It is believed that some tourists cancelled their visit to Vava’u after cyclone Waka devastated the group in January 2002. Receipts from tourists were reported to have  declined by 2.5 percent to $12.4 million from $12.7 million during 2000/01.