Litia Cava 
The Reserve Bank of Fiji has chosen to maintain its overnight policy rate at 0.25 percent, says Governor Ariff Ali.
Ali, who is also the chairman of the RBF Board, has expressed concerns about economic fragility, particularly after the
International Monetary Fund downgraded its global growth forecast for 2023.
He states that domestic sectorial indicators are showing a softer performance, except for electricity production and total visitor arrivals, which increased significantly in the first quarter of 2022, largely due to more visitors from Australia, New Zealand, and North America.
RBF now expects visitor arrivals for 2023 to exceed previous projections, indicating a potential upward bias in the GDP growth forecast.
Despite this, uncertainties in policy and persistently high building material costs are likely to keep investment rates modest soon.
However, the RBF governor states that the banking industry’s capital remains adequate, while private sector credit increased annually in March, consistent with historically low lending rates and favorable economic conditions.
The RBF Board has agreed to continue with its accommodative monetary policy stance for the time being, but the RBF Governor warned that the overnight policy rate may be adjusted if necessary.
