Fiji growth ‘weak’
FIJI’S economic growth momentum is weaker now compared to pre-COVID due largely to the exodus of workers overseas.
And the World Bank is working with the Government to provide an in depth inquiry into the huge gap left behind by Fiji’s migrating workers and what can be done to close it.
“Let me give you a sense of what the trend was before COVID. The decade before COVID, Fiji’s growth averaged around 3.7 per cent. We are now saying that they’re going around three per cent over the medium term, so there is clearly a gap even going back to trend and that gap is because of a number of factors,” World Bank country economist for Fiji Mehwish Ashraf said in response to questions from The Fiji Times at last week’s launch of the World Bank’s Pacific Economic Update for March 2024.
“What we have been working on and we are also discussing with the Government is to alleviate this issue of skills shortages in the country, because we keep hearing this all the time, but there are certain pockets within the country that needs to be exploited.”
One such pocket, she said, was female labour force participation.
“Female labour force participation in Fiji is the lowest among the Pacific Island countries and also in relation to its peers, if you see the Caribbean countries or if we see the Eastern African Islands.
“So Fiji, needs to do a lot in terms of getting women into those places and in a high quality, high paying jobs. So that’s one of the pockets that might help Fiji recover on some of that growth, which is being lost right now from the skill shortages.”
Another pocket is underemployment.
“There’s a there’s a pool of students who are there, but they’re not being employed, So what needs to be done in terms of getting those students to a level that can then pick up those jobs that are available in the economy,” Ms Ashraf said.
“And then there is this informality that’s also happening. So how to formalise… that would also improve the growth prospects and also help us get more formal labour into the economy.”
Ms Ashraf said the World Bank has been working with the Government on these issues and a report would be released soon.