This paper examines the resilience of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Fiji against the economic impacts of major shocks including the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and climate-related hazards, using a survey of 2,400 MSMEs from early 2023. The analysis focuses on...

This work was conducted at the request of the Ministry of Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development and Statistics (MFSPNDS). MFSPNDS requested the World Bank's support to conduct a systematic review of the health sector, to take stock of its current performance in tackling the country's...

Economic output and livelihoods in Pacific Island economies (PIEs) rely greatly on ocean-related sectors and products, known as the "Blue Economy". Yet, marine ecosystems are under mounting pressure of climate change and human degradation, exposing PIEs to very large risks, while they have only...

The Fijian economy has recovered strongly from the pandemic. Real GDP rebounded by around 30 percent cumulatively in 2022-23, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Inflation has recently ticked up modestly largely due to a temporary effect of the hike in Value-Added Tax rates. Supported by the...

This report presents the findings of the Vital Signs Profile (VSP) assessment conducted by the World Bank and the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI) in collaboration with Fiji's Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS). The VSP provides an opportunity to assess the state of...

The Country Opinion Survey in Fiji assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in Fiji perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and...

Pacific developing member countries (DMCs) depend heavily on international tourism, which can promote merchandise exports by reducing trade costs. This paper empirically analyzes tourist inflows as a determinant of merchandise exports for Pacific DMCs by deploying a gravity model technique....

When parents migrate from home to another place and leave their children behind, it can have a large influence on their children. This study explores the relationship between parental migration and the learning outcomes of left-behind children aged 7-14 in Pacific Island economies, particularly...

The departmental paper, "Rise of Digital Money: Implications for Pacific Island Countries," delves into the fast-evolving landscape of digital money in a diverse region of extremes in size, remoteness and dispersion, highlighting its significant macroeconomic and financial consequences. It...

The standard approach to 'nowcast' disaster impacts, which relies on risk models, does not typically account for the compounding impact of various hazard phenomena (e.g., wind and rainfall associated with tropical storms). The alternative, traditionally, has been a team of experts sent to the...

Fiji’s 2018 National Elections was narrowly won by the FijiFirst Party (FFP), which formed government with twenty seven seats in Fiji’s fifty one seat parliament. On the other side, Fiji’s opposition was formed by the Social Liberal Democratic Party (SODELPA) and National Federation Party...

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) small business owners are vital contributors to U.S. economic growth. Nevertheless, this demographic confronts steep impediments to its socioeconomic success in the form of racism and blame for the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, many AAPI entrepreneurs...

Climate change poses an existential threat to many islands in the Pacific. Small island states in the regionare increasingly vulnerable to extreme rainfall events, cyclones, changes in ocean circulation, and risingsea level. Climate data is a critical resource to help development actors prepare...

The systematic country diagnostic (SCD) covers a group of nine small Pacific Island countries (PIC-9) - Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The document updates the previous SCD, completed in 2016, and assesses the...

This note provides a deep dive into the quality of nighttime lights (NTL) data for Pacific Island Countries (PICs). It explores their potential to generate and complement regional socio-economic statistics. NTL data has been widely used as a proxy of economic activity. It has been used to both...

Globally, more than one billion people live in urban informal settlements and experience suboptimal access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Participatory approaches are increasingly being promoted in WASH interventions, but the key elements of these approaches are not well-defined....

Over the two decades preceding the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, tourism became one of the most important drivers of economic growth across the Pacific. The COVID-19 crisis had a devastating impact on tourism activity in the Pacific, with severe and potentially durable economic...

The Fiji government responded quickly and moved decisively with stringent measures following the identification of the first COVID-19 case and took various effective measures to prevent its spread. It has been quick to implement public health emergency measures including lockdowns, curfews,...

As a final act, families of the deceased strive to implement funeral rites that are befitting of their loved one. However, perceived obligatory adherence to an immutable culture, plus emulation, can compel families to carry out a costly funeral. Yet, no data exist on financing and expenditure of...

The standard approach to ‘nowcast’ disaster impacts, which relies on risk models, does not typically account for the compounding impact of various hazard phenomena (e.g., wind and rainfall associated with tropical storms). The alternative, traditionally, has been a team of experts sent to...

This study investigates the patterns of global value chain (GVC) participation of Pacific island countries (PICs) at the country, industry, and firm levels, utilizing UNCTAD-Eora GVC data (1999-2018) and the World Bank's Enterprise Survey data (2009 and 2015). It also uses the survey data to...

The 2023 Article IV Consultation discusses that Fiji's economy rebounded strongly in 2022, as tourism recovered rapidly. With the rapid rebound in tourism, the economy is experiencing a strong recovery. Nevertheless, significant risks to growth remain both on the demand side-due to the global...

The paper probes the sector-wise presence of volatility persistence, herding behavior and corresponding implications on investors and policymakers in the Oceania region both in Pre-COVID & Post-COVID era. The inspection is based on seven identical sectors from both Australia and New Zealand...

The Pacific Island nations heavily rely on the tuna fishery for government revenue and economic growth. Since the conversion of some nations to the Vessel Days Scheme (VDS) from the fishing Quota system, the region's domestic catch has significantly increased. VDS has stimulated economic return...

This report provides an assessment of the stability of the financial systems of selected Pacific Island Countries (PICs) in the context of COVID-19 and emerging risks. The report brings together an analysis of information provided by the central banks of the PICs covered by this study over the...

1 Introduction -- 2 Africa's Least Developed Countries: Missed opportunities -- 3 Asia's Least Developed Countries: Policy Lessons -- 4 Central Asia: Three decades after the economic transition -- 5 The Pacific: Development challenges of small island states -- 6 Path dependence and policy as...