The core role of the Reserve Bank of Fiji is not to make profit, but to play a vital role in safeguarding Fiji’s macroeconomic and financial stability while contributing to government finances.
Following the RBF’s board approval last week of the financial accounts for the 2025-2026 financial year which ended in July, the institution has demonstrated strong financials to support credibility and maintain reputation.
Through prudent financial management, investments of foreign reserves, effective monetary policies, and strong financial sector oversight, the central bank aims to support economic growth, maintain investor confidence, and strengthen the resilience of the country’s financial systems.
Profit transfer
For this financial year, the RBF achieved a net profit of $120.6million.
This represents the fourth consecutive year in which the bank has recorded profits of more than $100m, marking the third highest profit in the central bank’s history.
Over the past five years, including this year, the RBF has contributed a total profit to Government of just below $550m – approximately around $548m.
And following the provisions of the RBF Act, a total of $117,975,891.59 (approx, $118m) was transferred to the Government, which comprised the 2025–2026 financial year net profit of $120.6m, a transfer of $0.7m from the Unrealised Revaluation Reserve Account to offset unrealised losses, a prior year adjustment of $2.4m, and a transfer of $1.0m to the general reserves.
RBF governor Ariff Ali said they got most of their income from the interest income on foreign reserves, which accounted for almost 75 per cent of their total income.
He said the remaining balance of almost one quarter of income was derived from domestic bond interest or other interest incomes.
Mr Ali said globally, the economic environment was marked by heightened uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, volatile commodity prices, shifting monetary policies, and lower interest rates in key markets.
He said because of lower interest rates in the markets that they operated in, their income was slightly lower.
“At one stage, we were expecting a profit of close to $100m but given that there was some increase in interest rates, we managed to increase our profit to about $120m,” Mr Ali said at a press conference in Suva last week.
The $118m profit transferred is part of the Government’s national budget.
Mr Ali said when the budget was announced, the RBF had provided an estimate of the profits that was similar to the amount that was ultimately transferred to Government.
Minister of Finance Esrom Immanuel said the profit from the RBF would be part of the revenue pool that would be used during the new financial year.
“There’s no specific objective for the fund, it will be part of the revenue pool,” Mr Immanuel said.
He added no other government entity had contributed a dividend or profit of this nature.
“Together with the financial performance, Reserve Bank continued its resilience, providing resilience in the Fijian economy.”
Financial system stability
Beyond profit transfers, the central bank monitors the financial system closely to ensure soundness.
Mr Ali revealed the total assets for the Fijian financial system currently stood at just below $40billion.
In response to questions regarding financial system risks, he said the central bank monitored a wide range of factors tailored specifically to commercial banks, FNPF and insurance companies.
“We can assure everybody that your savings, whether it’s in the banks or at FNPF, are safe and secure, so there’s no issues with that,” he said.
“Ultimately there are a number of risks, whether it’s credit risk, operational risk, there’s the cyber security risk, there’s a whole range of risks that we face. So we monitor this very closely.
“I can assure you that as of today, we are closely monitoring and we don’t see anything of major concern.
“So basically, your money at the banks are safe, your money at the FNPF is safe, all your premiums at the insurance companies are safe.”
To ensure a safety net against vulnerabilities and crises, the RBF retains about $1m in its general reserves almost every year.
Mr Ali confirmed that the central bank’s general reserves are extremely strong, noting that “we have been parking around a million dollars almost every year … and we feel that’re more than sufficient as of right now”.
Governance standards and milestones
The RBF Act requires the bank’s financial statements to be audited and signed within three months at the end of the financial year.
For the 2025-2026 financial year, the RBF finalised its clean audited accounts in less than two months.
Mr Immanuel commended the RBF board, governor, management and staff for achieving this timely clean audit alongside its profitable status – calling it a demonstration of governance, accountability and operational excellence.
“They did it within two months. That’s a great achievement,” the Minister said.
Mr Ali also expressed hope that other financial institutions or government entities would set this benchmark to ensure their finances were signed on a timely basis.
Mr Immanuel also highlighted strategic achievements during the financial year, that included: the implementation of the IFRS-compliant financial reporting following legislative changes; introduction of the new banknote series; implementation of the Credit Union Act 2025; launches of Fiji’s sustainable finance roadmap and green finance taxonomy to support climate resilience; and ongoing work on digital transformation, payment system modernisation, and financial inclusion through the RBF’s Innovation Hub.
The outlook
Fiji’s economic growth provisional numbers show the economy grew by 2.5 per cent last year, slightly lower than the initial estimate of 3 per cent.
This year, initial conservative budget projections tabled a worst-case scenario growth of around 1.5 per cent.
However, given indicators seen so far – particularly stronger-than-expected tourism activity and remittances – the RBF and international commentators, including ANZ and Westpac, expect growth prospects to be revised upward.
Mr Ali said the official GDP revisions would be released around November.
Fiji’s foreign reserves remain strong at about $3.9bn.
The domestic inflation rate stands at 7.6 per cent, driven largely by global factors, the local fuel crisis, and the second-round impact of fuel prices on bus fare, taxi fare, electricity charges, and domestic factors like kava prices.
Mr Ali said the primary geopolitical concern monitoring for the next 12 months is the Middle East crisis and its impact on fuel prices and supply.
“Fuel is the lifeblood of the economy,” he said, noting that if prices remained high near $US110 a barrel, imported inflation would continue to impact the cost of living, transportation, and business operations.
