This article analyses the nexus between exports, established indicators of governance, and economic growth in Fiji. It finds that exports and governance co-operate to promote economic growth. The interplay between these variables is also meaningful. The findings imply that Fiji needs to improve export productivity and quality of institutional governance to ensure persistent rates of economic growth. Other variables such as human capital, private investment, foreign aid, and policy environment are also growth-enhancing in this small and vulnerable economy.
The COVID19 global pandemic has seriously disturbed Fiji, its people and the economy. Consequently, crisis management has been highly challenging in this small and vulnerable economy. Although the number of positive cases was low, the economic impact of COVID19 has been significant. In this paper, we identify several crisis management issues to better deal with the pandemic. These discussions can potentially improve Fiji's response strategies and initiatives to safeguard public health and economic activity. Our evaluation indicates room for learning and innovation in Fiji's health care services to ensure resilience and effective response mechanisms. The suggestions are not only useful for Fiji but also for other similar economies in the region. These suggestive strategies can work as proactive measures to combat second wave impact yet to come.
The paper projects aggregate populations of six Pacific Island countries in both pre- and post-COVID19 scenarios using a Cohort Component Method for the period 2020–2060. It uses baseline indicators resembling China and Italy’s experiences and finds that Pacific countries could experience a fatality rate between 5 and 20% due to the pandemic. It also finds that most Pacific Island countries would experience higher fatalities in the older age groups, consistent with what is being witnessed in other countries around the world. The analysis also shows that while the risk escalates for people over 50 years onward in all other sample countries, in Fiji, those in the age range of 60 years or more are at higher risk. The findings also indicate that for all countries, the fatality rate for 80 years and older is about 50%. The population projections show that Fiji will be most impacted, while others will experience around 2% initial population decline. The convergence to baseline is found to be slow (except for Tonga) in most Pacific countries. Consequently, the paper suggests a cautious approach in dealing with the current crisis.
Information and communications technology (ICT) has been widely embraced in many developing economies in recent times. Extant research reveals that ICT increases economic growth. Beyond economic growth, improved access to information, markets and economic opportunities via information and communications technology have the potential to influence other dimensions of public welfare. This study quantitatively examines the effects of ICT on selected health and gender dimensions of Pacific Island developing countries’ populations. The results show a statistically significant and positive impact of ICT on health and gender outcomes. Our results are robust with an alternative modeling approach, different control variables, and different measures of health and gender outcomes. We further establish that the health outcome of technology has a valid pass-through of income. The study suggests policy implications for the Pacific and other developing countries striving to enhance the health and gender outcomes of SGDs.
After abandoning Bretton Wood, the foreign exchange market has been dominated by three types of economies: export‐oriented economies (China and other Asian countries), commodity economies (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and oil exporting nations) and reserve‐currency economies (US, EU, UK, and Swiss). As a result, the asymmetric development of the foreign exchange market has reduced the monetary and fiscal space for PSIDS, which face structural challenges such as a low population base, import dependence, aid dependency, climate risk, and political uncertainty. The ‘Exchange Market Pressure Index’ (EMPI) for Fiji is developed in this article to quantify the pressure on the exchange rate and monetary authorities' responses to micromanaging balance sheet impacts. The calculated EMPI accurately reflects four instances of financial distress in Fiji, including significant exchange market pressure in response to growing trade deficits and external debt, the global financial crisis's contagion effect, and political uncertainty. Our EMP Index's robustness is attributed in part to the employment of a dynamic time series estimate method, a time‐varying weighing scheme, and a high‐frequency monthly dataset.
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