Day: August 27, 2020
Jobless numbers soar in Fiji
Unscripted and unplanned, Fijians have returned quietly to the land and the sea over the past months as the impacts of job losses brought about by the COVID19 pandemic began to bite. In the tourism belts of Nadi and
Fiji tourism prepares for a COVID-safe future
As Fiji’s largest foreign exchange earner pre-COVID-19, the tourism and hospitality sectors went into free fall when international borders closed due to the spread of the pandemic, and the nation entered into lock
How will Vanuatu ride out COVID and cyclones
There was no social distancing evident as tens of thousands of Vanuatu citizens marched through the capital to celebrate the nation’s 40th Independence Anniversary at the end of last month. Vanuatu is one of just
COVID-19 to bring ‘prosperity’ to Vanuatu
The Presbyterian Church Chairman of Vanuatu’s Christian Council, Pastor Alain Nafuki, has thanked COVID-19 for enabling the country to focus hard on identifying the best way towards prosperity for the country for the
PNG economy, health hit hard
The impact of COVID-19 is accentuating trends that had already developed over the last decade, says University of Papua New Guinea lecturer in economics, Maholopa Laveil. He lists amongst these trends: “falling
Strengths and stresses: economic responses to COVID
A prominent Australian economist says it is “scary” to see COVID-19 put at risk so many of the gains Pacific island countries have made over the last decade. Dr Jenny Gordon, the Chief Economist at the Australia
FEMM seeks money for COVID, money for climate
“For the Pacific, the impact of climate change will remain as the greatest threat to our Pacific people in the longer term. You can quarantine COVID-19, but climate change cannot be quarantined.” That’s Exsley