Latest forecast by the Reserve Bank of Fiji indicate that economic growth for 2008 remains unchanged at 1.7% while there were modest improvements to projections for 2009 and 2010.

In its August Economic Review, the RBF revealed that growth in the next two years is now expected at 1.4% and 1.9 percent respectively.

The Bank said while a small improvement has been noted in the partial indicators for consumption, this is to a large extent explained by the high inflation environment.

While latest indicators of investment suggest a mild growth in activity it is still expected to be lower than the 2006 levels.

There is also a positive indication in the tourism sector with visitor arrivals growing by 12 percent on an annual basis up till July and has exceeded the Fiji Vistors Bureau's forecast by 305 percent.

However, the RBF said filling hotel rooms remains a challenge given an approximate 20% increase in rooms from 2005 to 2007.

Improved performances were also noted for other industries such as mineral water, fisheries, and garments and the most encouraging factor is that gold production is slowly rising from last year's levels.

The bank said inflation for July stood at 6.8% and is now forecast to be at around 7.5% by the end of the year while foreign reserves stand at $892.1 million, sufficient to cover 3.9 months of import of goods.