FIJI is in a much stronger position to weather the impacts of a global economic slowdown, says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Professor Biman Prasad.
Speaking ahead of the 2025-2026 budget announcement, Prof Prasad said the Government was building on the momentum of the past two financial years.
“We are in a much stronger position to tackle the expected global economic slowdown,” he said.
“And as I said in my other interviews before, this will be a budget that will anticipate some of those headwinds.
“And it will be reflected in our expenditure, in our policies.”
He said domestic policy would be focused on cushioning the impact of global uncertainties.
“There are a lot of things that are happening globally now.
“The Iran-Israel war, the Ukraine war, the tariff war.
“All these can have a debilitating impact on a smaller economy such as ours, dependent on tourism and remittances and investment from overseas.”
Prof Prasad said the local economy was growing stronger than expected.
“We will end up with about 4 per cent growth in 2024, as opposed to the original forecast of 2.8 per cent.
“Our policies have been working very well, and that has put us in a very strong position to look at increasing our expenditure, to look at increasing our deficit a little bit, because what we did in the last two budgets, we raised more revenue, we controlled the deficit, we brought the debt-to-GDP ratio down, and so we are in a strong position amongst many countries that we see a growth prospect there.
“So, long and short, our economic policies, our expenditure policies, our tax policies have worked very well.”
He said the Government was satisfied with its financial approach so far.
“That is the satisfaction that we have as a government, that we did the right things in the last two budgets.
“And that will continue in this budget and will build on to the positive.”
