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
Fiji
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
Fiji resilience: Chef Shain
Seeing Shain hold and play with her daughter, and you can tell that 4-year-old Sarah is her world. Her job was another important part of her life at one time, until three months ago when that world came crashing around
Fiji Resilience: Losana
Sitting in the hot sun, Losana does not seem to mind the humidity and the busy carpark beside her as she stacks heaps of wild lemons and cucumbers. What do you do when it rains, we ask her. “Au dau vakaruru ikea
Fiji resilience: Shree Ram the Volunteer Cook
Volunteers like Shree Ram are ensuring 2,000 school children in Nadi are eating well in schools. He is one of about 20 men and women who are volunteering their time to provide vegetarian meals for children who attend
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
Reading Fiji’s change of tack
“We call for the immediate suspension of the individuals who are holding current positions at USP and further investigation about the matter,” demands a petition being circulated on the internet a day or so after
FNPF ponders telco investment
An invitation by Amalgamated Telecom Holdings(ATH) to existing shareholders to buy up more shares is still being considered by the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF). FNPF is the major shareholder, owning around 72% of
USP student across the region protest, police on Fiji campus
A “support good governance” protest organised by the University of the South Pacific Student Association today with the theme “wear blue” is now underway in a number of campuses around the region with the
Fired USP manager wants his job back
Sacked University of the South Pacific senior manager Hasmukh Lal is not challenging claims of plagiarism that led to his termination, documents filed with the Fiji High Court reveal. His lawyers, Reddy & Nandan are
Pacific countries will access future COVID-19 vaccine through funding mechanism
Pacific island countries will be able to access a future COVID-19 vaccine through a new funding mechanism announced by Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, at the Global Vaccine Summit last week. Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States
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
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
Fiji’s main opposition party suspended
This week’s sitting of the Fijian Parliament in the capital Suva continued without the country main opposition party SODELPA following its suspension by the Registrar of Political Parties, who is also the
Fiji government to support troubled national airline
The Fijian Government used its majority in parliament this week to fast track the passing into law of two bills aimed at assisting its financially troubled national airline as a result of the adverse impacts of the
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
InDepth: Life during the lockdown
For over two months, Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Satyendra Prasad has been largely confined to his home, He describes life during the COVID-19 induced lockdown in New York, and how it is
We Say: The virus is the threat, not people
The UN Human Rights Office has warned of “toxic lockdown culture” in a number of countries, with UN Secretary General António Guterres reminding governments that the threat was the “virus, not people.” States
Fiji businesses say COVID-19 has increased violence
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased employees’ experiences of domestic and sexual violence say two-thirds of companies surveyed in Fiji by the IFC and Fiji Human Resources Institute. Fifteen companies were surveyed as
Fiji Airways lays off workers, seeks urgent loan
The Fiji Parliament will be today asked to urgently grant a government guarantee for a loan to keep Fiji Airways afloat, as the adverse impacts of the COVID19 pandemic begin to bite on the national airline.
Dengue fever another blow for PICs
The Red Cross says a dengue outbreak continues to threaten a number of Pacific island nations, even as they rebuild after Tropical Cyclone Harold and struggle with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. More
COVID-19 a wake up call on the need for regional cooperation
Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations says the COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call for the Pacific on the need for regional cooperation. “If the world ever needed confirmation of why multilateralism
A ‘people’s funeral’ for Qarase
Deprived of a state-funeral after his death on 21 April, supporters of Fiji’s ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase helped his family to give the 79-year old leader a send-off befitting the national and populist