Women are the highest active users of mobile money, highest recipients of inward remittances and highest recipients of inward mobile money.

KPMG partner in-charge of business services, senior accountant and Fiji-New Zealand Business Council president Renu Chand said this while speaking in the National Economic Summit during the plenary session on “Responsible, Responsive and Resilient Leadership” on Thursday.

“We now have credible, reliable data from the Reserve Bank of Fiji,” she said.

“So based on September 2022, we now have 49.3 per cent of women representing the total population of which 37 per cent are in paid employment. “Almost half of our population, 44 per cent, is living in rural areas.

“So the big game changer for women since COVID-19, has been three things.

“The first is that women are the highest active users of mobile money, women are the highest recipients of inward remittances and women are the highest recipients of inward mobile money.”

She challenged participants at the summit to include women in Fiji’s economic recovery strategies.

“We here at the summit have to challenge ourselves on how best we can use policies and programs to mobilise these monies that women are receiving into investment, rather than normal consumption.”