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 Sulawesi province has a strategic position on regional and international perspective due to its location in the edge of Pacific region (Pacific Rim). It directly faces to the East Asia countries and Pacific countries so that it becomes a crossing of two continents, Asia and Australia continents and two oceans, India and Pacific oceans as well.
This strategic position makes North Sulawesi into the gate of Indonesia to Pacific and it is potential to be a centre of economic growth in the AFTA frame. In addition to that advantages, North Sulawesi province is often called as the province of coconut and the province of clove as well as a main producer of copra in Indonesia.
I t is because of the widely area of coconut and clove plant that reached 262,930 Ha of coconut and 40,610 Ha of clove. Blessing with beautiful nature, North Sulawesi province has a potential tourism inside. This region is famous with the most beautiful nautical area that is suitable for the undersea tourism. An interesting tourism object is the famous Bunaken sea park.
This sea park is often called as the most beautiful sea park in the world. In order to support the development of tourism businesses, the Regional Government continues to build and improve supporting facilities.
At present, Sam Ratulangi airport in Manado to be an international gate, especially for tourism that comes from northern countries.
The North Sulawesi Province spread out on 0°30' - 5º35' north latitude and 123° 30' - 127º 00' east longitude. The area is 15,272.18 km².
The government's administration is set up into 5 regencies/cities; these are the regencies of Minahasa, Bolaang Mongondow, Sangihe Talaud and the cities of Manado and Bitung.
Bolaang Mongondow regency has the biggest area (8,358.04 km²) and Manado city has the smallest area (157, 25 km2).
In 2002, the average rainfall was 325-357 mm/month.
The northernmost area is influenced by the different seasonal wind; those are dry season (around April to September) and wet season (around October to March).
Temperature is between 25, 6ºC - 27, 2ºC with the average wind speed of 2.2 knot.
GROSS REGIONAL DOMESTIC PRODUCTS
In 2001, the economic growth of North Sulawesi increased 4.25%. The GRDP based on 1993 constant price amounted to Rp 3,357,568 million while that based on current price was Rp 9,668,063 million.
The total GRDP declined by 18.45% compare to that of in 2000. However, agriculture sector still contributed most portions of 22.34%.
INCOME PER CAPITA
Meanwhile, in the same period, the regional income per capita based on constant price was amounted to Rp 1,529.737,-
EXPORT-IMPORT
In 2000, the export value was as much as US$ 328.1 million and reached US$ 20.5 million during the period of January-March 2001. Agriculture and its processing products provided most contribution to the export value. Along with the export decreasing, the import value was also decreasing drastically. The main imported goods included the industrial supporting products.
MINIMUM WAGE RATES
In 2000, the minimum wages rates had variation based on sub sectors, for instance, the minimum wages rates of forestry sector were between Rp. 210,000,- to Rp 250,000,- per month.
AGRICULTURE
From 1,527,219 ha area or 27% of the total areas, corn was a non-rice crop planted in the most area of North Sulawesi. This crop had the harvesting area of 75,203 ha and its production reached 163,115 ton. Cassava, sweet potato, peanuts and soybean were also more widely cultivated by the farmers.
PLANTATION
In 2001, the area of large plantation, people plantation and state plantation was 340,610 ha, mainly cultivated by coconut (262,930 ha), clove (40,610 ha), nutmeg (16,870 ha), coffee (7,508 ha), cacao (7,310 ha) and vanilla (5,724 ha). In this period, coconut plantation reached the highest production with the amount of 267,372 ton. The potential area available for people plantation was 327,931 ha, while 349,952 ha area was available for the large plantation. Coconut, clove and nutmeg has become the favourite commodities for businesses and farmers.
FISHERIES
In 2001, productivity of fresh water fisheries dropped significantly by 738.9 ton or decreased 7.55% compared to that in 2000. However, its productivity increased up to Rp. 483 million or 1.26% compared to those in the same period. The same condition is occurred on the sea fisheries. Its production decreased such a large amount by 9,874 ton or 5.10% compared to those in the same period, while its value increased Rp. 466 billion or 44.53% compared to that in the same period. The total production of sea as well as fresh water fisheries was 192,886.6 ton in 2001.
FORESTRY
The total area was 798,656.66 ha, consisted of production forests (299,843.05 ha), conservation forests (182,167.61 ha) and conversion forests (316,646 ha). The main production was log.
MINING
The potential mining found in this area was for instance kaolin, andesit, raw material of cement, iron sand, ochre, toseki, obsidian, and sulphur, estimated available in large deposits.
(this information is taken from Wikipedia and BKPM).
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