Fiji’s overall net deficit for the financial year 2023 -2024 has reduced by almost 50 percent.

It is budgeted to be at 4.8% of the GDP in this financial year.

Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Finance Shiri Gounder says this is much lower than the 9% that was recorded over the last four years.

Based on this calculation our debt to GDP ratio will fall by 79.3 percent by July 2024.

However, in the medium-term, net deficit is projected to be below 3% with further improvements anticipated in the debt to GDP ratio.

This approach to Fiji’s coffers means that government is working to close the deficit gap that exists between its expenditure in comparison to its revenue.

In other words, the government will highly likely register a balanced budget in the near future if it continues the momentum from this budget approach.

The net deficit for the 2023-2024 financial year is budgeted at $639.1 million or -4.8 percent of GDP. This is based on the estimated total revenue and expenditure.