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The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) says a lot of focus should be placed on things that will grow the country sustainably over time.
RBF Governor Savenaca Narube made the comment during a question and answer session after his presentation at the Fiji Australia Business Council (at the Radisson Fiji Resort Denarau Island.
Narube had been asked by former FABC President Mark Halabe about how China expanded its economy by building its manufacturing base and going into other sectors in isolation for the world – up until a stage where investment in the country hit 15 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.
He said China had been able to this because it was a much bigger economy but Fiji did not live in isolation.
“This is why it’s my view that it’s important to move towards the export sector rather than imports,” he said.
“We need to ensure that whatever we do, we do sustainably over time.
“We need foreign exchange and in the face of the global financial crisis we also need to look at the wisdom of changes made long ago to tie our currency to foreign currencies like the Australian, NZ and US dollar, the Yen and the Euro.
“What happens to those currencies affects the Fiji dollar. We need to look widely but we need lots of focus on one or two key issues and we need to move forward sustainably.”
On a question on fuel prices, Narube said Fiji’s fuel bill was one-third of the total import bill – which was very huge.
“The drop in fuel prices is good news for our balance of payments,” he said.
On questions of a likely devaluation and exchange rates, Narube said the Australian dollar had appreciated significantly against the Fiji dollar.
“Last year it appreciated by 16 per cent against the Fiji dollar … that’s huge but we don’t intend to do anything on that front for the moment.”
