Editing Tuvalu (section)

===Economy===
[[File:National Bank of Tuvalu.jpg|thumb|[[National Bank of Tuvalu]]]]
From 1996 to 2002, Tuvalu was one of the best-performing Pacific Island economies and achieved an average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5.6% per annum. Economic growth slowed after 2002, with GDP growth of 1.5% in 2008. Tuvalu was exposed to rapid rises in world prices of fuel and food in 2008, with the level of inflation peaking at 13.4%.<ref name="IMF 2010">{{cite web |title=Tuvalu: 2010 Article IV Consultation-Staff Report; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Tuvalu |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=24632.0 |publisher=International Monetary Fund Country Report No. 11/46 |date=8 February 2011 |access-date=4 September 2011}}</ref> Tuvalu has the smallest total GDP of any sovereign state in the world.<ref name="IMF Groups">{{cite web |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2016/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=58&pr.y=19&sy=2015&ey=2015&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=001%2C998&s=NGDPD&grp=1&a=1 |title=Report for Selected Country Groups and Subjects |work=[[World Economic Outlook]] |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |date=April 2016}}</ref>

Tuvalu joined the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) on 24 June 2010.<ref name="IMF16">{{cite web |title=Tuvalu Accepts Article VIII Obligations |url=https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2016/11/03/PR16483-Tuvalu-Accepts-Article-VIII-Obligations#.WB2oJsXMZSo.facebook |publisher=International Monetary Fund press release no. 16/483 |date=3 November 2016 |access-date=25 February 2017}}</ref> The IMP 2010 Report on Tuvalu estimates that Tuvalu experienced zero growth in its 2010 GDP, after the economy contracted by about 2% in 2009.<ref name="IMF 2010"/> On 5 August 2012, the executive board of the IMF concluded the Article IV consultation with Tuvalu, and assessed the economy of Tuvalu: "A slow recovery is underway in Tuvalu, but there are important risks. GDP grew in 2011 for the first time since the global financial crisis, led by the private retail sector and education spending."<ref name="IMF55">{{cite book |title=Tuvalu: 2012 Article IV Consultation—IMF Country Report No. 12/259: IMF Executive Board Concludes 2012 Article IV Consultation with Tuvalu |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2012/cr12259.pdf |date=September 2012 |publisher=International Monetary Fund |page=55}}</ref> The IMF 2014 Country Report noted that real GDP growth in Tuvalu had been volatile averaging only 1 per cent in the past decade. The 2014 Country Report describes economic growth prospects as generally positive as the result of large revenues from fishing licences, together with substantial foreign aid.<ref name="IMF2014">{{cite web |title=Tuvalu: 2014 Article IV Consultation-Staff Report; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Tuvalu |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2014/cr14253.pdf |publisher=International Monetary Fund Country Report No. 14/253 |date=5 August 2014 |access-date=21 March 2016}}</ref> In 2023, the IMF Article IV consultation with Tuvalu concluded that a successful vaccination strategy allowed Tuvalu to lift coronavirus disease (COVID) containment measures at the end of 2022. However, the economic cost of the pandemic was significant, with real gross domestic product growth falling from 13.8% in 2019 to -4.3 percent in 2020, although it recovered to 1.8% in 2021.<ref name="B2023-1">{{cite web |title=Tuvalu: 2023 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Tuvalu |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2023/07/19/Tuvalu-2023-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-Staff-Report-and-Statement-by-the-536777 |publisher=International Monetary Fund Country Report No. 2023/267 |pages=1–4 |date=21 July 2023 |access-date=24 September 2023}}</ref> Inflation rose to 11.5% in 2022, but is projected to fall to 2.8% by 2028.<ref name="B2023-1"/>

The increase in inflation in 2022 was due to the rapid rise in the cost of food resulting from a drought that affected food production and from rising global food prices, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine (food imports represent 19 percent of Tuvalu's GDP, while agriculture makes up for only 10 percent of GDP).<ref name="B2023-1"/>

The government is the primary provider of medical services through [[Princess Margaret Hospital (Funafuti)|Princess Margaret Hospital]] on Funafuti, which operates health clinics on the other islands. Banking services are provided by the [[National Bank of Tuvalu]]. Public sector workers make up about 65% of those formally employed. Remittances from Tuvaluans living in Australia and New Zealand, and remittances from Tuvaluan sailors employed on overseas ships are important sources of income for Tuvaluans.<ref name=AusAID>{{cite web |url=http://www.ausaid.gov.au/country/country.cfm?CountryId=22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320052433/http://www.ausaid.gov.au/country/country.cfm?CountryId=22 |archive-date=20 March 2012 |title=Australian Government: AusAID (Tuvalu) |access-date=1 September 2011}}</ref> Approximately 15% of adult males work as seamen on foreign-flagged merchant ships. [[Agriculture in Tuvalu]] is focused on [[coconut]] trees and growing [[pulaka]] in large pits of composted soil below the water table. Tuvaluans are otherwise involved in traditional subsistence agriculture and fishing.

Tuvaluans are well known for their seafaring skills, with the [[Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute]] on [[Amatuku]] [[islet|motu]] (island), Funafuti, providing training to approximately 120 marine cadets each year so that they have the skills necessary for employment as seafarers on merchant shipping. The [[Tuvalu Overseas Seamen's Union]] (TOSU) is the only registered trade union in Tuvalu. It represents workers on foreign ships. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that 800 Tuvaluan men are trained, certified and active as seafarers. The ADB estimates that, at any one time, about 15% of the adult male population works abroad as seafarers.<ref name="ADB2011">{{cite web |title=Maritime Training Project: Program Completion Reports |date=September 2011 |publisher=Asian Development Bank |url=http://www.adb.org/projects/documents/maritime-training-project-0 |access-date=28 January 2013}}</ref> Job opportunities also exist as observers on tuna boats where the role is to monitor compliance with the boat's tuna fishing licence.<ref name="TO0315">{{cite web |last=Dornan |first=Matthew |work=The Conversation |title=The Pacific islands 'tuna cartel' is boosting jobs by watching fish |date=4 March 2015 |url=http://theconversation.com/the-pacific-islands-tuna-cartel-is-boosting-jobs-by-watching-fish-38177 |access-date=10 March 2015}}</ref>

Government revenues largely come from sales of fishing licences, income from the [[Tuvalu Trust Fund]], and from the lease of its "[[.tv]]" internet [[Top Level Domain]] (TLD). Tuvalu began deriving revenue from the commercialisation of its ".tv" internet domain name,<ref name="Conway">{{cite journal |author=Conway, James M. |url=http://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/islandstudies.ca/files/ISJ-10-2-Conway.pdf |title=Entrepreneurship, Tuvalu, development and .tv: a response |journal=Island Studies Journal |volume=10 |issue=2 |year=2015 |pages=229–252 |doi=10.24043/isj.329 |s2cid=248650961 |access-date=25 February 2017 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019015241/https://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/islandstudies.ca/files/ISJ-10-2-Conway.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> which was managed by [[Verisign]] until 2021.<ref>{{cite web |first=Michael H. |last=Berkens |url=http://www.thedomains.com/2012/02/25/verisign-renews-contract-with-tuvalu-to-run-tv-registry-through-2021/ |title=Verisign Renews Contract With Tuvalu To Run .TV Registry Through 2021 |date=25 February 2012 |publisher=The Domains |access-date=27 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=WP01219>{{cite news |first=Alexander |last=Lee |title=Tuvalu is a tiny island nation of 11,000 people. It's cashing in thanks to Twitch |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=23 December 2019 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2019/12/23/tuvalu-is-tiny-island-nation-people-its-cashing-thanks-twitch/ |access-date=26 December 2019}}</ref> In 2023, an agreement between the government of Tuvalu and the [[GoDaddy]] company, outsourced the marketing, sales, promotion and branding of the [[.tv]] domain to the [[Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation]], which established a .tv unit.<ref name="DFA23-TV">{{cite web |last= |first= |title=.tv Unit at Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation |publisher=Department of Foreign Affairs - Government of Tuvalu |page= |date=13 December 2023 |url=https://dfa.gov.tv/index.php/2022/12/13/tv-unit-at-tuvalu-telecommunications-corporation/ |access-date=25 November 2023}}</ref> Tuvalu also generates income from postage stamps by the [[Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau]], and from the [[Tuvalu Ship Registry]].

The [[Tuvalu Trust Fund]] (TTF) was established in 1987 by the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.<ref name="Goldsmith" /> The TTF is a sovereign wealth fund that is owned by Tuvalu but is administered by an international board and the government of Tuvalu. When the performance of the TTF exceeds its operating target each year, excess funds are transferred to the Consolidated Investment Fund (CIF), and can be freely drawn upon by the Tuvaluan government to finance budgetary expenditures.<ref name="B2023-3">{{cite web |title=Tuvalu: 2023 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Tuvalu |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2023/07/19/Tuvalu-2023-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-Staff-Report-and-Statement-by-the-536777 |publisher=International Monetary Fund Country Report No. 2023/267 |page=6 |date=21 July 2023 |access-date=24 September 2023}}</ref> In 2022, the value of the Tuvalu Trust Fund is approximately $190&nbsp;million.<ref name="B2023-3"/> In 2021 the market value of the TTF rose by 12 percent to its highest level on record (261 percent of GDP). However, the volatility in global equity markets in 2022 resulted in the TTF's value falling by 7 percent as compared to the end of 2021.<ref name="B2023-3"/>

Financial support to Tuvalu is also provided by Japan, South Korea and the [[European Union]]. Australia and New Zealand continue to contribute capital to the TTF, and provide other forms of development assistance.<ref name=AusAID/><ref name="Goldsmith" />

The [[U.S. government]] is also a major revenue source for Tuvalu. In 1999, the payment from the South Pacific Tuna Treaty (SPTT) was about $9&nbsp;million, with the value increasing in the following years. In May 2013, representatives from the United States and the Pacific Islands countries agreed to sign interim arrangement documents to extend the Multilateral Fisheries Treaty (which encompasses the South Pacific Tuna Treaty) for 18 months.<ref name="RA160513">{{cite web |last=Coutts |first=Geraldine |work=Radio Australia |title=US signs new tuna agreement with the Pacific |date=16 May 2013 |url=http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/pacific-beat/us-signs-new-tuna-agreement-with-the-pacific/1131586 |access-date=3 September 2013}}</ref>

The United Nations designates Tuvalu as a [[least developed country]] (LDC) because of its limited potential for economic development, absence of exploitable resources and its small size and vulnerability to external economic and environmental shocks.<ref name=unohrlls>{{cite web |url=http://www.unohrlls.org/ |title=United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States |work=SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES: Small Islands Big(ger) Stakes |publisher=UN-OHRLLS |year=2011 |access-date=1 September 2010 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101141932/http://unohrlls.org/ |url-status=usurped}}</ref> Tuvalu participates in the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries (EIF), which was established in October 1997 under the auspices of the [[World Trade Organization|World Trade Organisation]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/ldc/shared/Tuvalu.pdf |title=Tuvalu – Draft Country Review Paper, Implementation in Asia and the Pacific of the Brussels Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001–2010: progress made, obstacles encountered and the way forward |date=8 January 2010 |publisher=The United Nations |access-date=24 October 2011}}</ref> In 2013, Tuvalu deferred its graduation from [[least developed country]] (LDC) status to a [[developing country]] to 2015. [[Enele Sopoaga]], the prime minister in 2013, said that this deferral was necessary to maintain access by Tuvalu to the funds provided by the United Nations's [[National Adaptation Programme of Action]] (NAPA), as "Once Tuvalu graduates to a developed country, it will not be considered for funding assistance for [[climate change adaptation]] programmes like NAPA, which only goes to LDCs". Tuvalu had met targets so that Tuvalu was to graduate from LDC status. Enele Sopoaga wanted the United Nations to reconsider its criteria for graduation from LDC status as not enough weight is given to the environmental plight of small island states like Tuvalu in the application of the [[Environmental Vulnerability Index]] (EVI).<ref name="RNZ230913">{{cite web |work=Radio New Zealand International |title=Tuvalu wants changes in assessment of LDC criteria |date=23 September 2013 |url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=79324 |access-date=24 September 2013}}</ref>