Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad, says the preliminary data and trends show that the 2024 economic growth forecast can be upgraded to around 3.5 percent or even higher.

Prasad says the Macroeconomic Committee is currently reviewing the projections, and an official and independent forecast will be released next month.

Speaking in Parliament this morning, Prasad says that with the strong support for the Budget and the major policy measures, including a pay rise for civil servants, an increase in the national minimum wage, government capital projects, and a slightly higher fiscal deficit, confidence has been boosted and economic activity has increased.

He stresses that this has reversed the economic slowdown noted in the months prior to the Budget, which led to the downward revision of economic growth from 3.4 percent to 2.8 percent.

The DPM states that since then, the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of Fiji have been closely monitoring economic developments, and they have noted some significant positive trends thereafter.

“All major indicators for aggregate demand including private sector lending, VAT collections, (adjusted for the impact of the rate changes) which is a key indicator for domestic spending, 20 percent increase in Government expenditure in the last 7 months, pick up in import trends, higher electricity consumption, increased vehicle sales, and improvements in income indicators like PAYE collections and remittances have all seen a pickup.”

Prasad adds that the tourism industry has also continued to perform better than their earlier expectations.

He states that while they are forecasting growth of around three percent in visitor arrivals for this year, the figures to date show that visitor arrivals have grown by close to seven percent in the first eight months.

Prasad made these comments while giving a ministerial statement on the National Development Plan 2025-2029 and Vision 2050.

He adds that as a nation, they envision in the NDP becoming a high-income country by 2050, and the economy needs to grow at a consistent rate of 4 to 5 percent every year.