AG says the boom is back and it is a Bula Boom

Government revenue is forecast at $2.9 billion while expenditure stands at $3.8 billion for the 2022/2023 National Budget.

Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says this will bring the Debt to GDP ratio to 85 percent.

He says the budget creates certainty.

Sayed-Khaiyum also says the economy is projected to grow by 12.4 percent this year.

He says the boom is back and it is a Bula Boom.

Sayed-Khaiyum says Fiji is expected to surpass 500,000 visitor arrivals this year. He says cumulative revenue collection as at 30th June 2022 amounted to $1.96 billion, of which $1.5 billion was tax revenue. The Minister also says Fiji is well on track to achieving the $2.25 billion annual revenue forecast, with June tax collections exceeding the forecast by $11.6 million. He further says 92 percent of employees have returned compared to pre-COVID and most importantly, the wages paid to our people are up by $210 million –– 15 percent higher compared to this same six-month period last year. He says this is $210 million in the pockets of our taxi drivers, tourism employees, airport staff, factory workers, farmers and families.

However he says the bad news is that even though wages are rising, so are prices due to challenges Fiji didn’t cause and cannot control.

He says thanks to the recovery, the budget builds more buffers to the price-increase crisis.

Sayed-Khaiyum further says in 2 years the government lost about $2.8 billion in revenue.

He says the average cost of our overall debt portfolio as of July is 4.4 percent of almost a quarter from pre-pandemic levels.

He says that’s at least $100 million annual savings on interest payments mainly due to Government's ability to negotiate lower-cost, policy-based loans and concessional financing.

Sayed-Khaiyum says in the coming months Fiji expects $1 billion in investments in the private sector.

Foreign reserves also hit a record high of $3.62 billion equivalent to 8.4 months of imports.

He also says many developed and developing nations are facing down a recession – Fiji is not.

He says many nations are facing double-digit inflation, even as high as 80% – Fiji’s is in the single digits.

The Minister says many countries have vaccinated fewer than half of their eligible populations. He says Fiji’s adult population is virtually all vaccinated. He also says some people in other countries are waiting for days for fuel and cooking gas – Fijians are not.