Government’s total revenue is estimated at $2.25 billion while total expenditure is $3.72 billion for the 2021/2022 Revised Budget.
Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says this will result in a net deficit of $1.46 billion equivalent to 14.2% of GDP.
He says government debt is projected to reach 88.6 percent by the end of this fiscal year and based on the projected economic recovery and planned deficit reduction, the debt to GDP ratio is expected to come down to below 80% in the next 3 years.
Sayed-Khaiyum says they are expecting the economy to grow by 11.3 percent this year driven by the vaccination of Fijians and the reopening of our borders.
He says other independent economic analysts put the figure even higher.
The Minister for Economy adds it’s estimated to take three years until Fiji’s economy is restored to pre-pandemic levels.
Foreign reserves currently stand at around $3.2 billion, sufficient to cover 8.8 months of imports.
Sayed-Khaiyum says with their largest earner of foreign reserves, tourism, shut down, Fiji faced a real threat of devaluation but the proactive and robust policies by the government and the Reserve Bank of Fiji helped avoid a devaluation of the Fijian dollar.
He says had Fiji been forced to devalue, Fijians would be paying much higher prices today for everything.
Sayed-Khaiyum further says liquidity levels in the financial system stand at around $2.0 billion, and that supported the low-interest-rate environment. He adds with improved confidence levels and reduced uncertainty surrounding the virus, investment prospects are trending upward.
Click to read: 2021-2022 Revised Budget Estimates
Click to read: 2021-2022 Revised Budget Supplement
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