Kirisitiana Uluwai 
Fiji is expected to continue leading the Pacific’s recovery from the pandemic.
This was revealed in the World Bank’s Pacific Economic Update: Recovering in the Midst of Uncertainty.
The revival of the tourism industry contributed to a strong rebound in 2022 (18.6 percent) which continued into 2023 (7.7 percent).
The World Bank’s country economist Reshika Singh says despite uncertainty about the outlook for inflation and interest rates in major economies and trading partners, developing Pacific economies are expected to grow in 2023 and 2024 due to a recovery in tourism, post-disaster rebuilding, and infrastructure construction.
Singh says most of their reports reflect specific issues faced by Pacific countries.
“When we do budget support operations for example in these member countries take into account the findings of these reports and enter that as some of the pillars that we support in the budget support operations. So while these budget support operations supports policy reforms, key policy reforms that help achieve the economic priorities of the government and that has come out as key areas in these studies.”
The report further detailed that Pacific growth is expected to pick up to 3.9 percent this year from 2 percent in 2022 and then moderate to 3.3 percent next year as the initial post-COVID-19 rebound dissipates and as the region moves towards its long-term trend growth of 2.6 percent.
Robust growth is also projected for Palau (10.3 percent), Samoa (5.5 percent), Tuvalu (3.9 percent), and the Federated States of Micronesia (3.2 percent).
Singh says most Pacific countries are projected to reach their pre-pandemic GDP level by 2024.
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