Reserve Bank Governor, Ariff Ali

Reserve Bank Governor, Ariff Ali has refuted claims and rumour mongering that the Fijian dollar will be devalued.

Ali says while people need to be wary of the fake information, he is also reaffirming the Central Bank’s position that no devaluation is even being considered.

“People have been speculating about a devaluation rumour and some have even said we’ll devalue in May. Never in Fiji’s history or in anybody’s history do Central Banks tell three months in advance that they’ll devalue because they’d be an outflow of capital, so it’s really wrong planning if somebody says that, so that doesn’t make sense.”

Ali further states that Fiji’s current foreign reserves are more than the global benchmark which puts the economy in a comfortable position.

“Currently it’s just around $2 billion and if you look at the IMF benchmark which is three months of import cover. We’ve got a cover of exactly $500 million, in addition, we have slightly more than half a billion dollars that is held by other institutions as foreign currency. This is something that we can call back. So the overall buffer in our foreign reserves is $1 billion.”

The governor also says the RBF is expected to announce the revised figures for economic growth in the next six weeks.