{"id":386238,"date":"2026-01-02T06:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386238\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T06:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:04:13","slug":"trade-deficit-widens-as-imports-surge-fbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/386238\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade deficit widens as imports surge \u2013 FBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Inflation-arrow-960x540.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>[Photo: FILE]<\/p>\n<p>Inflation in Fiji stood at zero per cent in December, unchanged from earlier in the year.<\/p>\n<p>The Reserve Bank of Fiji\u2019s December Economic Review 2025 pointed this out.<\/p>\n<p>Rising prices for alcohol, tobacco, Yaqona and hospitality were offset by declines in transport, fuel and household goods.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Consumer activity remained robust, driven by lower VAT rates, higher wages and remittances.<\/p>\n<p>Trade dynamics showed a 10.1 per cent widening in the merchandise deficit as imports grew faster than exports.<\/p>\n<p>Key imports included machinery, vehicles and manufactured goods, while gold, woodchips and kava boosted export receipts.<\/p>\n<p>The review notes that declines in sugar, mineral water and re-exported fuel offset some gains.<\/p>\n<p>Investment and construction indicators suggest an improving outlook.<\/p>\n<p>The value of building certificates and work put in place increased while new loans for households and real estate rose.<\/p>\n<p>Banking sector conditions remained favorable, supporting credit growth and keeping lending rates low.<\/p>\n<p>The Reserve Bank stresses vigilance as external shocks and domestic structural challenges could affect future economic stability.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"viti-plus-link-article\" href=\"https:\/\/www.viti.plus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+.  Anytime.  Anywhere.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Photo: FILE] Inflation in Fiji stood at zero per cent in December, unchanged from earlier in the year.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-386238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}