International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
The 2023 Article IV Consultation discusses that Fiji’s economy rebounded strongly in 2022, as tourism recovered rapidly. With the rapid rebound in tourism, the economy is experiencing a strong recovery. Nevertheless, significant risks to growth remain both on the demand side—due to the global outlook—and on the supply side—due to capacity constraints and price competitiveness. The recovery and ongoing broad consultations make the upcoming budget a critical opportunity to begin rebuilding Fiji’s fiscal space and reducing vulnerability. Monetary policy needs to begin shifting now to a more neutral stance, amidst growing uncertainty to the outlook for inflation and foreign reserves. Addressing the implementation challenges of Fiji’s climate plans will require increased efforts and financing. Advancing climate adaptation plans will help Fiji transition to a more sustainable and resilient growth model. Accelerating investments on renewable energy will help Fiji diversify its energy sources and reduce external imbalances. However, Fiji’s climate adaptation and mitigation plans face significant challenges, including shortfalls in climate financing, implementation capacity, and investment management.
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This 2019 Article IV Consultation with the Republic of Fiji highlights that economic activity slowed sharply in 2019 due to lower government spending, tighter domestic financial conditions, weak sentiment, and the global deceleration. The slowdown followed several years of relatively strong growth, boosted by reconstruction spending after a major cyclone in 2016, which resulted in rising external and fiscal imbalances. Fiscal space is now at risk and external vulnerabilities remain significant. Fiji has large investment needs to strengthen resilience to natural disasters and climate change. A key priority should be to rebuild fiscal buffers in a growth-friendly way to create space to respond to future natural disasters and to ensure public debt sustainability. Fiscal consolidation should focus on reining in current spending given limited scope for further revenue mobilization and the need for capital spending to improve resilience to climate change. Improvements in the business environment and in governance are essential to raise potential growth and boost private investment, and to enhance productivity and competitiveness.