The Asian Development Bank, in its latest economic outlook, has stated that Fiji’s growth is projected to slow to three percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2025.

It says tourism remains the main driver of economic activity despite expansion in other sectors, notably agriculture and business process outsourcing.

However, ADB says the growth rate in visitor arrivals is projected to decelerate in 2024 and 2025 due to capacity constraints, hotel inventory, and migrating workers.

It says high occupancy rates in key areas are pushing up hotel prices.

The ADB says this may make it difficult for Fiji to compete with other destinations, such as Indonesia and Thailand.

The ADB’s economic outlook also says Fiji’s inflation is projected to rise to 3.7 percent this year, consistent with the high inflation observed so far and the trend in commodity prices.

It says price increases resulting from the change in VAT rate in August last year may persist in the first half of 2024, but inflation is expected to fall back to 2.6 percent next year.