This article reviews the performance of the Fijian economy from 2015 to 2019. After several years of decent growth (around 5%), GDP growth fell to as low as 0.5% in 2019. Earlier hopes that a ‘new normal’ of GDP growth of around 5% per annum had been established have faded. The principle reason for this, it is argued, is a lack of business confidence, which is associated with the 2018 elections, but more fundamentally with a lack of faith in Fiji's political system. At the same time, the government has also been forced to embark on a course of fiscal consolidation, as announced in the 2019–2020 National Budget, due to disappointing revenue collections and undisciplined expenditure in earlier years. The banking sector is hamstrung by a lack of liquidity. This article is written to understand the Fijian economy pre‐COVID‐19, but with the sharp downturn in economic growth in particular due to the impact of the COVID‐19 virus on tourism—Fiji's most important sector—and no room for fiscal expansion, growth prospects in Fiji are currently not bright. An improved medium‐term outlook will require greater confidence (both political and economic) to increase investment, both foreign and domestic. Reforms to reduce the costs of doing business will also help.

中文翻译：

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斐济经济调查：低增长是新常态吗？

本文回顾了2015年至2019年斐济经济的表现。经过几年的体面增长（约5％），2019年GDP增​​速降至0.5％。此前，人们希望GDP的“新常态”已经建立的每年约5％消失了。有人认为，这样做的主要原因是缺乏商业信心，这与2018年大选有关，但更根本的原因是对斐济的政治体系缺乏信心。同时，由于早些时候令人失望的税收收入和无节制的支出，政府也被迫着手进行财政整顿，正如2019-2020年国家预算所宣布的那样。缺乏流动性阻碍了银行业。本文旨在了解COVID-19之前的斐济经济，但是随着经济增长的急剧下滑，特别是由于COVID-19病毒对斐济最重要的部门旅游业的影响，而且没有财政扩张的空间，斐济目前的增长前景并不乐观。改善中期前景将需要更大的信心（政治和经济方面）以增加国内外的投资。减少经商成本的改革也将有所帮助。