Aerial shot of Suva.

The national budget to be announced on Friday by Minister of Finance, Professor Biman Prasad is anticipated to look at savings that can put Fiji on a path towards surplus over the medium to long term, after the pandemic’s back-to-back stimulus budgets.

This is according to the ANZ report titled, Fiji Budget Repair.

The bank says to grow and stimulate the economy, government initiatives could include things such as reducing red tape during the project approval process.

It says this will accelerate the project pipeline, lift Fiji’s productive capacity and help reduce its dependence on tourism.

The existing project pipeline is estimated at FJD3bn across all construction segments, including residential, non-dwelling builds, mining and civil engineering construction.

ANZ says once these projects get underway, it will create jobs, supporting

household income and retail spending, which will support government revenue.

It adds that there needs to be labour market reforms to fill workforce capability gaps.

The estimation is that about 20,000 people depart Fiji each year to work overseas, creating labour shortages across a range of sectors.

ANZ recommends that domestic training and upskilling could help retain workers. Also, industry liaison suggests attracting overseas workers to cover critical shortages in Fiji is difficult because of work permit rules.

The national budget will be delivered at 10am and you can watch it on FBC TV and it will simulcast on Radio Fiji 1 and 2 and as well as Gold FM.