Apenisa Waqairadovu 
World Bank Senior Economist Ekaterine Vashkmadze has warned that tightening fiscal spaces across the region may force governments to make difficult spending cuts to infrastructure and essential services.
Governments across the Pacific including Fiji are facing difficult choices as limited fiscal space forces them to decide where to cut spending.
World Bank Senior Economist Ekaterine Vashkmadze warns that when budgets tighten, investment and maintenance are often the first to be reduced.
“Because we lack fiscal space, we do not have the luxury of freely directing funds where we want. As a result, investment is often cut immediately, along with routine maintenance spending. This, in turn, affects critical sectors such as transport, energy, and water. These repeated shocks and ongoing neglect gradually erode the very foundations on which growth and investment depend.”
She says this can lead to long-term damage to infrastructure, public services, and overall economic growth.
The concern is that short-term savings today may create bigger costs in the future.
