‘Fiji’s Foreign reserves worth $3b’

Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says Fiji has over eight months of foreign reserves worth $3billion.

He made this comment at the signing of the grant agreement between Government and the Asian Development Bank to enhance Fiji’s COVID-19 preparedness for tourism recovery at the Fiji Airways Aviation Academy in Nadi yesterday.

He said the foreign reserves were because of Fiji’s continuous economic growth over the years.

“We had nine years of unprecedented growth before the pandemic and I think that obviously helped us to ensure that we have our foreign reserves in a very good position,” he said.

“We have over eight months worth of foreign reserves, $3 billion dollars worth of foreign reserves we have in place.

“Interest rates at the moment are fairly effective too, and we need to ensure that we take advantage of that.”

He said a lot of people in Fiji spoke about debt but didn’t actually know about what debt was, what debt was actually used for and what the cost of debt was.

The A-G added that a lot of countries around the world were still suffering because there was lack of confidence in the economy.

However he said Fiji still had a lot of confidence in the economy.

“It’s a big thing at the moment all around the world seeing a lot of countries are suffering as a result of lack of confidence in the economy, the inability to manage debt or not having a long term strategy around that, whilst trying to manage the socio economic impact of a unstable world post pandemic,” he added.

“But now with the war between Russia and Ukraine having an enormous impact on commodity prices, food prices generally, inflation rates are shooting through the roof.

“But of course many other countries, including many of our development partners actually have a huge inflation rate.”

The A-G added that climate change remained a key issue for the country.

Fiji Airways Aviation Academy

He said the Fiji Airways Aviation Academy created a hub in the Pacific.

“We are here in this premises which was obviously one of Government’s initiatives,” he said.

“Today this aviation academy is not only providing opportunities for our pilots who don’t have to travel long distances to far places having to do their simulator training at 2am or 3am but they are able to get premium position but also to be able to generate revenue from this, and in fact creating a hub in the Pacific.

“Our Maritime Academy in Suva is providing opportunities for a number of regional partners to participate.”