Ministry of Finance permanent secretary Filimone Waqabaca
Source: MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
The Fijian Government has welcomed the revision of the projected economic growth figure from 2.7 to 3.2 per cent by the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
Ministry of Finance permanent secretary Filimone Waqabaca said there was an air of confidence and optimism in the country which augured well for the government’s medium term target of 5 per cent growth.
He said the Government would continue to strive for this by working with the private sector, civil societies and other stakeholders to build a better, stronger and sustainable performing Fijian economy.
“Our aim though in the medium term is for 5 per cent growth and Government will continue to strive towards this. It is not impossible and I am optimistic that we can achieve our target growth,” the permanent secretary said.
The 2.7 per cent growth figure announced in the 2013 Budget was derived from estimate figures available at that time.
“After the first half of 2013, the RBF is now in a better position to revise the projected figure and certainly the sectors that have led to the upward revision are sectors performing quite well,” he said.
Mr Waqabaca said the robustness in the wholesale and retail sector was the result of Government putting more money in hands of the people by increasing the tax threshold from $15,000 to $15,600 and reducing the tax percentage from 25 per cent to 7 per cent for the lowest band.
He said Government had also provided strong support of several sectors such as the textile and footwear sector, the agricultural sector and tourism amongst others.
There were stimulus given to investors at various levels including the declaration of tax free zones and duty free goods.
RBF Governor and Macroeconomic Policy Committee chairman Barry Whiteside, said the revised growth projection reflected the growing sense of optimism in the economy and was consistent with the strong growth in various partial indicators.
The other sectors that provided impetus for the upward revision in growth included communication, financial intermediation, construction and the transport and storage.