Mixed response to Fiji budget

Responses to the Fiji budget have been mixed. A summary follows. The Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association has welcomed the budget and its move to reduce overheads, calling it “bold and innovative.”  

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Fiji Budget wrap

Fiji’s 2020-21 National Budget will see the Government attempt to spend its way out of the COVID-19 induced recession. “Barring drastic intervention, our economy may never fully recover; not this year, not next

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Fiji budget preview: expansionary budget anticipated to stimulate spending

Fiji’s Minister for Economy will deliver the government’s 2020-21 budget today, just 4 months after an emergency F$1 billion ‘Covid mini-budget’. It comes as the Reserve Bank of Fiji has projected a contraction

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Fiji resilience: Sigatoka’s Masi Lady

From the masi (tapa) making island of Vatulele is Anareta Ketenilagi, pictured here at her stall inside Sigatoka’s main food market. She specialises in masi costumes for brides and bridegrooms. “Before the

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Why we’re bailing out Fiji Airways: FNPF

The Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) is helping to bail out Fiji Airways as it is a strategic investment for tourism, which accounts for around 16 percent of the Fund’s investment portfolio.   While

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Consumption and investment down: Fiji Reserve Bank

The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to show in declining consumption and investment indicators says Fiji’s Reserve Bank. In its latest Economic Review, the Bank says cumulative to April, domestic

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The future of tourism

The end of breakfast buffets and garlanding on arrival. The rise of virtual travel experiences. The longing for solitude and simplicity. This is just a sample of the travel predictions being debated across the globe as

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Potential wait of “months” for green light on Fiji US$200m ADB loan bid

Fiji’s loan request of US$200million (F$460m) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) “will be considered by ADB’s Board of Directors in the coming months,” according to a statement from the ADB this

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Fiji confirms economic recession

The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) has today confirmed Fiji’s sure path to an economic recession, as all sectors of the economy brace for the harsh impact of the current coronavirus pandemic. “Following almost a

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Fiji: Will Koya return to Parliament?

Update: Lands Minister Ashneel Sudhakar has been removed from his ministerial position this afternoon. ** A fracas within Fiji’s ruling Fiji First Party could see the return to Parliament of lawyer and former Tourism

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“We are the niche”: Tourism Solomons CEO

Late last month, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare praised Tourism Solomons for its “relentless effort” to consistently grow visitor arrivals. PM Sogavare also expressed optimism about the

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Departure Lounge: Sketches of Fiji

Sketches of Fiji by high-profile Pacific aviator Andrew Drysdale harks back to a different time, when ‘Travelling Ground Engineers’ carried their own toolboxes and played the role of hostess, dispensing soup and

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