Dumith Fernando during the Reserve Bank of Fiji seminar last night.

A Sri Lankan economist believes that Fiji is in a much safer place financially.

Outgoing Chairman of Colombo Stock Exchange and Managing Director of Asia Securities and Investment Bank, Dumith Fernando, says Fiji isn’t even facing any imminent risk of any kind compared to what Sri Lanka is currently going through.

Fernando was speaking last night during a Reserve Bank of Fiji seminar on the topic of “Foundations of a Crisis: Sri Lanka’s Recent Economic Story.

He says since his arrival in the country, a number of people have asked him about the differences and similarities between Sri Lanka and Fiji and whether Fiji could go down the route of Sri Lanka.

“I don’t think Fiji is at a point where anything, any natural disaster can take you there overnight right, I think with a little bit of management Fiji’s on a much, much better footing. It’s on a much better footing now post pandemic than Sri Lanka was.”

Fernando says unless the country is asleep at the wheel, there shouldn’t be an issue economically compared to the situation in Sri Lanka.