Current Economic Trends in the South Pacific, 1992

Abstract

The reform ofthe public sector is a prominent issue in all of the Pacific island economies surveyed here. Efforts are being made generally to improve management accountability and service delivery and to streamline operations in the civil service. It is in the area of public (business) enterprise reform where significant gains could be achieved more quickly. All of the Pacific island economies have adopted policies to improve the performance of their public enterprises through commercialization, corporatization or privatization strategies. The main constraint to further progress is not a technical one but rather a political one. There is a need to generate a greater understanding of the issues and for wider acceptance of the need for serious reform.