Kirisitiana Uluwai 
The International Monetary Fund downgraded the global growth forecast in its April World Economic Outlook.
The forecast for 2023 and 2024 dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 2.8 percent for 2023 and 3.0 percent for 2024, respectively.
The downgrade reflects tight monetary conditions amid persistently high inflation, recent financial sector woes, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and rising geo-economic fragmentation.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Fiji revealed that policy-related uncertainties and the persistently higher cost of building materials will keep the rate of investment at a modest level in the near future.
RBF attributed the decline in sawn timber, woodchips, and mahogany output to the scheduled closure of mills for repairs and maintenance and the lack of inventory due to bad weather limiting forest access. Relatively, the low-quality gold-ore extraction saw a fall in the production of gold.
The National Bank states that financial conditions remain conducive, enabling both economic recovery and expansion, and although liquidity levels have started to moderate, they remain high as of April 28 at $2.32 billion, pushing the outstanding lending rate to a historic low.
