Ritika Pratap 
The Reserve Bank of Fiji in its latest economic review has stated that the annual headline inflation slowed to 1.3 percent last month, the lowest since 2021.
The RBF says prices eased notably from 5.1 percent in December 2023 and the year’s peak of 7.1 percent in April.
It adds that the deceleration in the general price level over the year is attributed primarily to the waning of the VAT hike introduced in the last fiscal year’s budget.
The RBF further states that to some extent it is also due to the removal of the three percent fiscal duty on raw materials effective from this fiscal year.
The December inflation rate is also the lowest year-end inflation rate recorded since December 2021, driven by the slowest increase in food prices witnessed in nearly four years.
