Finance And Socio-Economic Development – Case Study On Fiji
Krishal Prasad, an economist at the Reserve Bank of Fiji has jointly completed a research with Griffith University’s Parmendra Sharma and Samsul Alam titled ‘Finance and Socio-Economic Development in Fiji.’
The paper aims to bridge the gap in the literature on financial development trends in Pacific Island Countries, using Fiji as a case study.
In particular, the study examines the relationships between finance vis-à-vis economic growth, poverty, income inequality and health.
Although there is an abundance of research done for other countries and regions, this study is the first of its kind for Fiji and the region.
To understand the financial development trends, the paper uses globally acceptable measures such as private sector credit to gross domestic product (GDP), financial sector deposit to GDP, stock market capitalisation, bank branches per 100,000 adults and bank credit to bank deposit ratio.
The paper then compares Fiji’s trends with other similar economies which include Guyana, Jamaica, Maldives, Panama as well as other Pacific Island Countries.
Data were sourced from the Global Financial System Database, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Reserve Bank of Fiji.
In addition, the paper examines a number of finance related relationships for Fiji.
Among these, the finance-health relationship is of keen interest as it is a new area of research globally.
The study provides a basis for further investigations into the finance vis-à-vis various socio- economic relationships.
The full article may be accessed from the following links:
https://www.griffith.edu.au/asia-institute/our-research/south-pacific-centre-central- banking/working-papers and https://www.rbf.gov.fj/Publications-(1)/Working-Papers/Reserve-Bank-of-Fiji-and-Griffith-University-Worki
The paper titled Trilemma or Quadrilemma – the case of a Pacific Island Country which was authored by Jen-Je Su, Lavenia Cocker, Disusu Delana and Parmendra Sharma was published in the review of Pacific basin financial markets and policies journal.
Ms Cocker is a senior analyst in the financial markets group and Disusu Delana is acting senior economist at the RBF.
There are a number of joint papers of RBF and Griffith University currently in progress and will be published in due course.
Reserve Bank of Fiji
Feedback: maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj
