Экономика Фолклендских островов: от овцеводства к диверсификации.

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The economy of the Falkland Islands, which first involved sealing, whaling and provisioning ships, became heavily dependent on sheep farming from the 1870s to 1980. It then diversified and now has income from tourism, commercial fishing, and servicing the fishing industry as well as agriculture. The Falkland Islands use the Falkland pound, which is backed by the British pound.

During the 19th century, the supply and maintenance depot for ships at Stanley developed into a port serving ships rounding Cape Horn. There was also trade in cow hides from the wild descendants of cattle introduced by French settlers in the late 18th century. Sheep farming was then introduced, taking over from the cattle trade in the 1870s and becoming self supporting by 1885. The islands also provided a base for whaling and sealing, with factories being built on East Falkland and South Georgia Island, but these industries ended. By the Falklands War of 1982 sheep farming was the islands' only industry and their economic viability was in doubt, but after the war there was a new commitment from the Government of the United Kingdom. The Falkland Islands Development Corporation was formed in mid 1984 and in its annual report at the end of that year it set out to increase employment opportunities by encouraging diversification, to increase population levels through selective immigration, to aim for long term self sufficiency and to improve community facilities. To achieve this, the Corporation identified agricultural improvements, tourism, self sufficiency in energy, development of the industrial and service sector, fisheries, and land subdivision as areas to tackle. The largest company in the islands used to be the Falkland Islands Company (FIC), a publicly quoted company on the London Stock Exchange. The company was responsible for the majority of the economic activity on the islands, though its farms were sold in 1991 to the Falkland Islands Government. The company now operates several retail outlets in Stanley and is involved in port services and shipping operations. By 2002 the Falklands' economy was booming, with income from tourism and the sale of squid fishing licences as well as from indigenous fishing companies with locally registered boats. Fishing boats visit the islands from Spain, Korea, Taiwan and Japan, and obtain supplies and services from the islands. An islander told the BBC that "we were the luckiest people that was ever mixed up in a war", and British diplomats joked that the Falklands should have a monument to Leopoldo Galtieri, the Argentinean dictator who invaded the islands. In 2007, Argentina withdrew from a 1995 agreement that set terms for exploitation of offshore resources. It is thought that there might be up to of oil under the sea bed surrounding the islands. Desire Petroleum and Rockhopper Exploration began drilling for oil in the vicinity of the Falklands in the first half of 2010, sparking strong protest from the Argentine government. Diplomatic disputes with Argentina disrupted tourism slightly in 2004. Buenos Aires refused permission for charter flights from Chile that served cruise ships to fly over Argentina to reach the islands.

The Falkland Islands do not have a central bank but the Standard Chartered Bank has a single branch in Stanley that offers retail, commercial and wholesale banking facilities. The constitution requires the governor of the islands to seek the approval of a British Secretary of State before assenting to any bill that affects "the currency of the Falkland Islands or relating to the issue of banknotes" or any bill that establishes "any banking association or altering the constitution, rights or duties of any such association". These restrictions effectively give the British Government the ability to prevent the island's government from declaring the islands to be a tax haven or from establishing a central bank.

The Falkland Islands' fishing waters form part of the 2.7 million square kilometre Patagonian Shelf large marine ecosystem and are located on a spur from the Patagonian Continental Shelf. Most of the fishing takes place in water up to deep on this spur or on the Burdwood Bank another spur lying on an undersea ridge to the south of the Falkland Islands and separated from the islands by a deep channel known as the Falklands Trough. At its highest point, the Burdwood Bank is below sea level. The principal ocean currents in the Falkland Island waters are the West Wind Drift, a cold current from the Southern Pacific Ocean that flows westwards to the south of the Burdwood Bank and the north flowing cold Falklands current, an offshoot of the West Wind Drift that curls around the east of Falklands Plateau and along the Falklands and Patagonian escarpments. It joins the saltier warm Brazil Current in the vicinity of the mouth of the Río de la Plata to form the South Atlantic Current. In 1986 the Falklands opened up their fishing industry to outsiders with the declaration of a radius Fisheries Conservation & Management Zone centered on the Falkland Sound. This zone was later to become the Falklands Inner Conservation Zone (FICZ). Apart from the Falkland Trough, this zone lies within the continental shelf. In 1990 the Falklands Outer Conservation Zone (FOCZ) was declared – a zone that lay between the perimeter of the FICZ and the Falklands 200 nautical mile economic zone boundary. The FOCZ includes part of the Burdwood Bank, borders on the confines of the continental shelf and includes part of the Falklands Escarpment a undersea escarpment running east–west. At the same time that the FOCZ was declared, the Argentine declared its 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and together with the British Government (acting on behalf of the Falkland Islands) set up the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission (SAFC) to coordinate the management of fishing stocks in the area.

Tonne / ton conversion 1 tonne= 1000 kg1 tonne= 0.984 long tons1 tonne= 1.102 short tons 1 tonne= 2204 lbs
Most of the fish that are harvested in the Falkland Islands waters are either squid or finfish. Other types of fish form an insignificant part of the Falkland Islands' catch. A significant number of the fish that are taken are migratory with the spawning grounds and feeding grounds of some species being highly dependent on the water temperature.

The Illex squid (Illex argentinus) which typically has a mantle length of and a weight of is the most important fish to the Falklands economy followed by its smaller cousin, the Patagonian squid (Doryteuthis gahi) which typically has a mantle length of and a weight of
The lllex squid has its spawning grounds at the mouth of the Río de la Plata and a migratory pattern that takes it southwards along the Patagonian Shelf as far as the FICZ to its feeding grounds. It then returns to its spawning grounds via a route that lies off the continental shelf. In some years, such as 2007, it enters the FICZ with a resultant good harvest, it other years, such as 2009, it does not migrate as far south as the FICZ at all. The catch for the 2010 season in the Falklands recovered to 12105 tonnes, but still the fourth lowest since the beginning of the licensing system. This has been attributed to the lower than usual sea temperatures during the feeding season in February–May. The Patagonian squid, unlike the Illex, remain in Falkland Island waters all year and are concentrated in the Loloigo box—an area within the Falklands Plateau to the east and south east of the islands and are harvested during both the austral spring and autumn.

In the 1970s many fin fish, particularly the rock cod, a high volume low value fish were exploited to near extinction. The levels of rock cod taken in the whole of the South Atlantic dropped by 99.3% in the space of two years between the 1969–70 and 1971–72 seasons. while the patagonian rockcod was fished to near extinction in the Shag Rock area. This resulted in a ban on fishing which was lifted in 2005. Following the collapse of the Illex industry in 2008/9, the rock cod has become, by weight, the most heavily harvested species in the area. In 2006, a Spanish vessel on an exploratory trawl found commercial quantities of grenadiers (Macrourus spp., Coelorhynchus spp.) to the south and east of the Falkland Islands at depths between depths in the eastern part of FICZ. It has been estimated that this species needs a stock biomass of 40000 tonnes to produce a sustainable harvest of 3000 tonnes per annum and is now reflected as a separate entry in the tables below.

With the establishment of the FICZ, the Falklands Fisheries Department issued licences that enable foreign vessels to fish in Falklands waters. Initially there were seven classes of licence, but as of the 2009 season, this was increased to ten classes of licence. Each class of licence has its own characteristics – species or combination of species that may be taken, net sizes that may be used and seasons when the licence is valid. The main fishing areas are in waters that are up to deep with principal concentrations close to the confluence of the FOCZ, FICZ and EEZ to the north west of the Islands and also on the Burwood Bank – a shallow water to the south of the Islands. having been signed by the United Kingdom on 31 August 1981 and Argentina on 28 May 1982. The convention covers Southern Ocean ecosystem which is generally accepted as being south of approximately 50° to 55°S. The CCAMLR provides a forum for exchanging information regarding marine life in the Antarctic region and has the authority to ban the harvesting of certain type of fish and also to ban or put restrictions on the use of certain methods of harvesting. The convention requires that member states who are not parties to the Antarctic Treaty accept certain provisions of that treaty. The South Atlantic Fisheries Commission (SAFC) was set up in 1990 between the Argentine and the United Kingdom (acting on behalf of the Falkland Islands) to exchange information and to coordinate fishing activities in the South Atlantic. One of their prime activities was the monitoring of the Illex spawning stock biomass (SSB). If the SSB drops below a threshold of 40000 tonnes the SAFC recommend will early closure of the fishing season. Since 2005 the SAFC has been largely moribund as the Argentine Government reduced co operation, declining to continue the routine joint meeting process and suspending joint scientific activities.

Four sedimentary basins that could potentially contain hydrocarbons have been identified in the Falkland Island waters. They are:
North Falkland Basin which is located to the north of the islands. Falklands Plateau Basin which is located to the east of the East Falkland. South Falklands Basin which lies to the south east of the islands and extends up to the Falklands Trough. Malvinas Basin which lies to the south west of West Falkland, between that island and Tierra del Fuego at the head of the Falklands Trough. Part of this basin lies in Argentine waters. The latter three basins are part of a larger contiguous formation. An agreement signed in 1995 with Argentina had set the terms for exploitation of offshore resources including large oil reserves as it was thought that there might be up to of oil under the sea bed surrounding the islands. However, in 2007 Argentina unilaterally withdrew from the agreement. In response, Falkland Oil & Gas has signed an agreement with BHP Billiton to investigate the potential exploitation of oil reserves. Climatic conditions of the southern seas mean that exploitation will be a difficult task, though economically viable, and the continuing Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute with Argentina is hampering progress. Some 2012 exploration results have indicated that taxation on oil revenues, even though they will be amongst the lowest in the world, are expected to more than double the country's revenue.

In February 2010, exploratory drilling for oil was begun by Desire Petroleum, but the results from the first test well were disappointing. Two months later, on 6 May 2010, when Rockhopper Exploration announced that "it may have struck oil", Argentina's Foreign Minister warned that his country would take all possible lawful steps to impede British oil exploration and production there. On 17 September 2010, Rockhopper Exploration published the results of the borehole analysis – the well was drilled in water 451 m deep and a flow test showed that a payable oil column of 53 m was capable of producing over In February 2011 Rockhopper Exploration commenced an appraisal programme of the Sea Lion discovery. An update of the first appraisal drill was released on Monday 21 March 2011 indicating a significant reservoir package with a downhole mini Drill Stern Test flowing oil at better rates then the September 2010 flow test: confidence in the commerciality of the Sea Lion discovery has been increased by this first appraisal. On 14 September 2011 Rockhopper Exploration announced plans are under way for oil production to commence in 2016, through the use of Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) technology, replicating the methodology used on the Foinaven oilfield off the Shetland Islands. The proposal envisages a FPSO vessel located 200 km offshore servicing 24 production wells and 12 water injection wells in about 450 m of water. The wells will be arranged in clusters of 6 wells per drill centre. The two water injection well clusters will be 3.0 km from the four oil well clusters. Oil will be transferred from the FPSO vessel to shuttle oil tankers. Each year thereafter the production date has been pushed back another year. The production site will require approximately 110 people working offshore and another 40 working onshore. The oil expected to trade at 90 105% of the Brent crude price. In May 2015 oil was discovered in Isobel deep by a consortium of oil companies including Falkland Oil & Gas, Premier Oil, and Rockhopper Oil & Gas. In 2023, Rockhopper (working with Tel Aviv listed Navitas Petroleum) indicated that it had been presented with a new development plan for its Sea Lion project that aimed to cut costs and proceed in phases. It was stated that: "If realized, the new plan — with a total price tag of $2.2 billion — could lead to 80,000 barrels per day of production (up to 100,000 b/d at peak) via a leased floating production, storage and offloading unit". A final investment decision was targeted for early 2024.

As of 2011 the East and South Falklands Fields had not been fully evaluated; Leiv Eiriksson, a 5th generation semi submersible drilling rig, had been expected to drill two exploratory wells for Falkland oil and gas in 2012.

The islands have been investing in windpower – in 2010, three 330 kW wind turbines were installed at Sand Bay, about from Stanley on the opposite side of the valley from three turbines that were installed in 2007. The island's government has plans to install a 2 MWh battery storage system which will allow surplus wind energy to be stored. The first three turbines resulted in a 20% reduction in the Stanley power station's fuel consumption and it was hoped that the second set of three turbines would double this figure. In parallel, there are on going investigations into other forms of renewable energy for remote locations on the islands.

The Falkland Islands currently has three primary means of transport road, sea and air. There is now an international airport, a domestic airport, a number of airstrips, a growing road network and a much improved ferry service between the two main islands.

In October 1877, the Secretary of State of the Colonial Office, the Earl of Carnarvon began the process of application for the Falkland Islands to join the General Postal Union (renamed Universal Postal Union in 1879). The first stamps, 1d, 6d, and 1 shilling values featuring the usual profile of Queen Victoria, were issued 19 June 1878. Since then the islands have issued their own stamps, which are a source of revenue from overseas collectors. Between 2000 and 2008, the islands issued between six and eight sets of commemorative stamps. The workload placed on the Falkland Islands Post Office by overseas collectors led to the establishments in 1978 of the Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau. The Bureau also handles philately related sales on behalf of the governments of Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and of the British Antarctic Territory. Coins and banknotes may only be issued by the Falkland Islands Government with the authorisation of the British Government. Coins for local use were first struck in 1974 and are the same size as the corresponding British coins. There is a flourishing business in the issue of commemorative coins struck on behalf of the Falkland Island Government for collectors – in particular the 2007 series of coins that commemorated the 25th anniversary of the liberation of islands attracted much attention. The Falkland Islands Government (FIG) is required to deposit 110% of the face value of any coins struck on its behalf into its currency fund, thereby effectively backing the Falkland pound with the pound sterling. In the case of commemorative coins that are unlikely to be redeemed, this money represents a long term investment. In many cases the set up and production costs are carried by the mint concerned, who pay the FIG a royalty on coins that it sells to collectors.