FIJI’S credit rating support may improve after the elections if policy stability boosts growth prospects.
Standard and Poors released its research report on Fiji’s credit rating on Wednesday affirming its ‘B+’ long-term and ‘B’ short-term sovereign credit ratings on Fiji.
In its report S&P said in the past few years, Fiji had been politically stable and relations with the international community, including donor agencies such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, had strengthened.
It said during this period, GDP growth remained steady, with the exception of 2016, because of the cyclone.
The report continued to say that Fiji’s political and social settings had historically been marked by ethnic tension between its indigenous Fijian and the minority Indo-Fijian communities, resulting in several military coups during the past 20 years, with the most recent one ended in 2014.
According to the report there are no domestic conflicts and coups have had limited impact on the economy or the tourism sector.
It also noted that the effectiveness of policymaking remained mixed with limited checks and balances and while the quality and timeliness of data was improving, the government still had some deficiencies in this area.
Giving an update on Fiji’s status, it said Fiji was ranked 101 on the World Banks’ “Doing Business 2018” survey, down from 81st in 2015.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) is a leading index provider and source of independent credit ratings. S&P was founded in 1860, offering financial market intelligence. S&P Global divisions include S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Dow Jones Indices and S&P Global Platts.
