The Reserve Bank of Fiji says labour demand remains strong, corroborated by the high growth in recruitment intentions in the year to July.
In its August Economic Review, the central bank stated that income levels also rose over the same period, as indicated by an increase in Pay As You Earn tax collect for the last financial year.
The review highlighted that the financial sector remained supportive of economic recovery-Banking system liquidity remains high, close to $2.4 billion as of August 31.
RBF also said that commercial banks’ lending rates continue to trend near historical lows, while at the same time, private sector credit increased by 5.4 per cent in the year to July.
Foreign reserves are adequate at $3.5 billion as of 31 August, enough to cover 6.3 months of retained imports, and that foreign reserves are projected to remain adequate in the medium-term.
However, the Reserve Bank said the risk associated domestically are the increase in labour migration, ageing infrastructure, concerns around hotel room inventory shortages and climate change and the global risks associated are the evolving geopolitical fragmentation, persistent inflationary pressures, continued monetary policy tightening, rising commodity prices and deeper slow down in China.
