Global Events Take their Toll on Countries Like Fiji
Fijian Competition and Consumer Commissioner chief Joel Abraham has explained how a country like Fiji is affected by global events.
While speaking at the AttorneyGeneral’s Conference which ended at the Sheraton Fiji Golf and Beach Resort, Mr Abraham highlighted how an event such as the RussiaUkraine war which while happening tens of thousands of miles away from Fiji, impacted us.
He also highlighted that even before the COVID-19 pandemic, China and the United States began mutually escalating tariffs on $450 billion in trade flows in 2018 and 2019.
And that the US- China trade war caused container shortages and stockpiles of inventory.
This influx of demand meant –
1. Increases in prices of finished goods.
2. Increases in prices of raw materials.
3. Increases in container charges due to shortages. Then we were hit by the pandemic.
Mr Abraham said this once in a hundred-year event saw:
• Global disruption to demand,
• Global disruption to supply,
• Shipping rates increased,
• Container rates increased.
• and Businesses making up for two lost years
Then the world saw RussiaUkraine war which led to sanctions on Russia, Global supply (wheat, crude oil), disruption in shipping routes affected due to changes in demand
The post recovery to COVID, period has seen businesses recovering losses, commodity prices increasing due to uncertainty of World War Three and countries changing domestic policies e.g., export ban on wheat, edible oil.
On top of all of this climate change has also played a role in disrupting lives of people world over and Fiji has not been immune to this.
Mr Abraham said environmental breakdown was ushering in a new era of intensified price volatility and smaller-scale climate-related physical shocks are also increasingly affecting prices, as was recently demonstrated by pasta shortages due to a poor wheat harvest following record temperatures and droughts in Canada.
Meanwhile, our dependence on fossil fuels is leaving us exposed to ongoing energy price hikes.