Fiji Economic Situation

The Fijian Government borrowed more funds from the world over the COVID-19 pandemic to replenish foreign reserves. This, as per Attorney-General as well as Minister of Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in the 2022-2023 National Budget Consultation held at Suva's Fiji National University in Suva yesterday. "What was it that we were doing during the COVID period were we borrowed more money from overseas and less from our shores," Sayed-Khaiyum told reporters. "When you borrow more from overseas, the foreign exchange comes in because it's foreign Fiji Money Exchange." Mr Sayed-Khaiyum stated that they needed to prepare for the future so that the reserves of foreign currency could be maintained. "We've got what we're calling in the present stability in exchange rates. there's no devaluation of the dollar." He stated that they suffered losses of $4 billion dollars in currency within the span of two years in the COVID-19 epidemic. "The government revenue overnight went down by 50 per cent because there was no VAT from tourists." Prior to the pandemic, he stated, Fiji has recorded 894,000 visitors and by 2020, it dropped to 147,000 before it fell to 32,000 by 2021. He added that they are expecting 447,000 tourists to visit the country in the coming year.