Due to the impact of the recent floods and the deepening of the global financial crisis, economic growth projections and visitor arrival figures for 2009 are now expected to be worse than anticipated.

The Reserve Bank of Fiji confirms that due to these reasons, 2009 growth is now expected to be revised lower and while visitor arrivals had a positive performance last year, reservations about 2009 have emerged due to the global economic slowdown.

The RBF said despite spare capacity in the tourism industry and additional promotional efforts, visitor arrivals may not improve this year. Consumption is also predicted to remain subdued due to the damages to cane and sugar in the recent floods.

The Labour Market conditions also remain weak with latest figure showing that the number of new tax payers registered declined by 15.5% and employment opportunities will remain subdued due to the recent floods and the slowdown in the tourism sector.

The Reserve Bank also reveals that the trade deficit for 2009 is expected to widen as exports are expected to slow significantly while imports are envisaged to grow by 3.3%.

It also said that foreign reserves for the month of January stood at $737.5 million, sufficient to cover only 3 months of imports of goods.