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The International Monetary Fund acknowledged Fiji’s decisive leadership during the pandemic.

IMF Deputy Managing Director, Dr Bo Li, shared the positive feedback he has received from various stakeholders on Fiji’s economic recovery.

Dr Li emphasized the need for the continuation of this growth momentum and how the multilateral institutions like the IMF stand ready to further support Fiji.

He highlighted the challenges posed by the Russia-Ukraine crisis and supply chain disruptions, which are driving the unprecedented increase in the price of fuel, food, and freight.

While emphasizing the need for fiscal consolidation, Dr. Li agreed that targeted expenditure policies may be needed to cushion these inflationary pressures as small island developing countries like Fiji feel the brunt of these global supply shocks.

Dr Li met with the Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, on the margins of the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre Steering Committee meeting in Nadi yesterday.

Sayed-Khaiyum thanked the IMF and PFTAC for their support to Fiji during the COVID-19 period and reaffirmed Fiji’s commitment to continue this valuable partnership with the Fund.

“We look for obviously further collaboration. It’s not something that is only beneficial to Fiji itself but also the rest of the other Pacific island countries, and to be able to have that resource, that technical expertise, and people at hand to be able to help us in particular to navigate our way through this particular period, globally speaking and, of course, regionally speaking, is critically important for all of us. “

Sayed-Khaiyum also shared Fiji’s experiences during the pandemic, including the successful vaccination rollout, the safe reopening of the economy, the use of digital solutions to rollout unemployment assistance to those affected by the pandemic and other strategies to revive the Fijian economy and get back to normalcy.

They also discussed other issues like climate change, infrastructure development, monetary policy and financial sector developments.