Minister for Employment Agni Deo Singh [File Photo]

The remittance growth driven by labour mobility is expected to further grow by seven percent and stand at $1.4 billion this year says Minister for Employment Agni Deo Singh.

He highlighted this while contributing to the national budget debate in parliament yesterday.

The total inward remittances stood at $1.33 billion last year.

Singh says the surge in remittances is largely driven by labour mobility programmes under bilateral partnerships with Australia and New Zealand.

As of May 2025, a total of 10,500 Fijians are working in Australia, while over 4,600 are employed in New Zealand under the Recognized Seasonal Employer and Pacific Australia Labour Mobility schemes.

He says labour mobility is a significant contributor to Fiji’s higher remittances.

He has also acknowledged the government’s efforts to strengthen support services and protect worker welfare, both at home and abroad.

“In the last two and a half years, we have made sure that we only allow unskilled workers to join the workforce that is going abroad under the RSE scheme and the PALM scheme. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when we took over government, this ministry, we inherited 42 unfilled positions and I must thank the Honorable Minister for Finance for providing budgetary allocations in the last two years to fill all these positions and ensure that our ministry has a full complement of staff to be able to deliver.”

Singh has also acknowledged the continued support from the Australian government in funding an additional country liaison officer, which will bring the number to four in Australia.

He says the Fijian government is funding two and the Australian government is funding two of the country liaison officers.

The Minister has also acknowledged the New Zealand government for supporting Fiji under the RSE programme by providing funding to recruit the first ever country liaison officer for New Zealand

He says country liaison officers play a very important role in relation to the welfare of workers through pastoral care and also promoting Fiji in both Australia and New Zealand.

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