Fiji needs an Adaptive Social Protection Strategy in place to respond to the frequency of natural disasters, severe flooding and COVID-19 issues.
The Special Protection Specialist for the Ministry of Finance, Shamal Chand highlighted this in a presentation during the Adaptive Social Protection Workshop held at the Holiday Inn today.
Chand says the frequency of natural disasters, particularly category 5 tropical cyclones and severe flooding has increased.
He says the damages caused by this, were equivalent to one-third of Fiji's GDP.
He adds the cost of repairing the damages from tropical cyclones alone amounts to $500 million annually, putting a strain on the country's finances and hindering its development.
Chand says the COVID-19-related international border closures and lockdowns led to the unemployment of over 100,000 service sector workers.
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