Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad says the coalition government has managed to bring down our debt to GDP ratio from almost 90 percent in 2022, to below 80 percent at the end of this fiscal year (July 2024).
While speaking on the state of the economy at the Fiji Indigenous Business Council Workshop held at the Harbour Point Conference room in Suvavou, Lami, Professor Prasad says this path of fiscal discipline and debt reduction must continue.
He says we managed to come out of the pandemic with a strong economic rebound of 20 percent growth in 2022 and 8.2 percent growth in 2023, which brings us back at pre-pandemic levels now.
He further says the fact that the economy is now where it was in 2019, means that we have essentially lost five years of economic growth. Professor Prasad adds the tourism industry rebounded strongly with a record 929,740 visitors, which was 4 percent higher than 2019 levels and our national airline, hoteliers and all other tourism associated businesses had a year of record profits.
He says tourism earnings reached a record level of $2.4 billion, which allowed people to go back to jobs and other businesses around tourism. The Deputy Prime Minister says personal remittances rose to a record $1.25 billion last year, and this helped propel spending in the economy, and supported growth and income levels of our people.
Professor Prasad says foreign reserves remain at comfortable levels at present, and is projected to remain stable in the medium term.
He further says while these reserves are comfortable, the Reserve Bank is managing them prudently as we expect pressure on reserves in the coming months from higher oil prices and a slowdown in inward tourism receipts. He adds Fiji's healthy reserves position has ensured that the liquidity in the financial system supports low interest rates, which is a key ingredient in driving private sector borrowing and investment.
The Minister for Finance says as of yesterday, the financial system liquidity stood at around $1.9 billion.
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