The Reserve Bank of Fiji’s latest economic noted that investment spending held firm last year, with a higher value of work put-in-place (+10.5 per cent) cumulative to September and elevated import payments for investment-related goods (+15.6 per cent) and domestic cement sales (+11.1 per cent) for the whole of 2016 confirming strong investment activity for the year.
“While base-related effects underscored the contraction in new lending to the real estate sector (-21.6 per cent), there has been some turnaround in new credit to the building and construction industry (+2.6 percent) in the year to November 2016.”
The RBF added that labour market conditions were also favourable.
“Higher recruitment intentions in the wholesale & retail trade & restaurants & hotels; construction, transport, storage & communication; finance, insurance, real estates & business services; agriculture, forestry & fishing and electricity & water sectors underpinned the annual rise (15.1 per cent) in the Fiji Times job advertisement for 2016.”
Despite natural disasters last year, it said the tourism industry remained largely unscathed from the impact of December’s tropical depression, with New Zealand and Chinese visitors dominating annually higher (5.0 per cent) visitor arrivals. Arrivals in 2016 also reached a record of 792,320 and consumption spending remaining strong.
Subscribe to our Newsletter to receive news and updates about Fiji Real Estate: