$3.2b Loss In Tax Revenue: President

‘We can all agree that Fiji’s economic recovery is looking promising.’

Top executives meet this weekend in an “open and safe space” to discuss issues under the theme Strategies, Synergies, Solutions For Sustainable Recovery 2030, after President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere officially opened the annual event on Thursday.

In his address to the 270 registered members at the Top Executive Conference 2022, Ratu Wiliame described the roomful of executives as Fiji’s distinguished intellectuals.

The two-day event is held at Shangri-La Yanuca Island, Coral Coast, Nadroga.

Ratu Wiliame highlighted losses amounting to $3.2 billion in tax revenue owed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Fiji recorded its largest ever economic contraction of 17.2 per cent in 2020, with a further four per cent contraction in 2021, due the second wave,” he said.

“This is my first TOPEX conference; however I have had a vested interest in the annual event, having seen how it brings together Fiji’s private sector leaders,” he said.

“The theme for TOPEX 2022 - Strategies, Synergies, Solutions for Sustainable Recovery: 2030 - has never been as relevant to us as it is today.

“The geo-political, economic, and social structures of the world are changing at almost break-neck speed, presenting the private sector with a series of complex challenges – not least of which are the ever growing impacts of climate change.”

The International Monetary Fund projected global growth to slow from 6.1 per cent in 2021, to 3.6 per cent in both 2022 and 2023, he said.

“We can all agree that Fiji’s economic recovery is looking promising – even better than expected, many will say,” Ratu Wiliame said.

Last month alone, 70,152 people travelled to Fiji, with visitors from Australia and New Zealand surpassing 2019 peak levels, he said. “That’s an amazing win for every Fijian and for every business owner,” he said. “These wins of course are no accident. “Government made decisive moves within its pandemic-time national budgets to reduce all major tourism-related taxes, and instead, introduced attractive tax incentives to stimulate investment opportunities in the tourism sector.”

Meanwhile, Chair of the Women Entrepreneurs Business Council (WEBC), Eseta Nadakuitavuki, who is also chair of TOPEX, said the event was a safe space for delegates, from where resolutions and outcomes for a sustainable recovery to 2030, would be drawn.