This study uses a two-sector model to determine the productivity differential between the export and non-export sectors of Fiji, and the contribution of exports and investment to gross domestic product over the period 1962-2000. Amongst our key results, we find that the productivity differential...

In a recent initiative, the Fiji government has established a revitalization program for the rice industry, with assistance expected from the Republic of China, India and Indonesia. Using the computable general equilibrium model of the Fijian economy, the economy-wide impact of a 40 per cent...

The need to diversify Fiji's export base has been identified as an important avenue for reducing Fiji's vulnerabilities in international trade. This paper poses the question: Doubling fish exports or garment exports: which would be most beneficial for the Fijian economy? To achieve the goal of...

The contribution of tourism to the economic growth of Pacific Island countries (PICs) has achieved significance in the past decade. The shift in the economic policies of the PICs from the late 1980s has been decisively away from import substitution and agriculture to urban-based manufacturing...

The Fiji government's 2008 'budget for hope' rests on some fundamental assumptions: political stability, the recovery of key sectors of the economy from the effects of the 2006 coup, as well as the recovery of the tourism industry, an industry which in the past has been resilient to coups. With...

The Fiji Government's inability to resolve the differences over land leases is widely seen as a major contributor to the difficulties experienced by the sugar industry. In this paper, however, a different perspective is provided on the industry's problems. In examining the relationship between...

Coups have been used as a weapon to overthrow democratic governments in Fiji since 1987. The post-1987 period has been one of the most volatile ones in Fiji's history, in that it has undergone 15 changes in government. In this paper, we analyze the long run economy-wide impact of the May 2000...

In this article, we consider the stability of the real effective exchange rates for four Pacific Island countries using the Lee and Strazicich (2003a, b) unit root test, which allows one to incorporate at most two structural breaks in the data series. Our main finding is that for Papua New...

For more than a century, the sugar industry has been perceived as the backbone of the Fijian economy, given its contributions to gross domestic product (GDP) and employment generation. However, because of the non-renewal of land leases and the gradual withdrawal of preferential prices by the...

This paper examines three key issues arising from the 2003 Fiji National Budget: the emphasis on tourism as a driver for economic growth; a 25 per cent increase in the VAT; and the 7 per cent increase in the sugar tax. The authors argue that, rather than increasing taxes, the government should...