the building & construction have reached $ 125 million followed by transport, storage & communication ( $ 21 million ), electricity, gas & water ( $ 16 million ) and manufacturing ( $ 16 million ). other miscellaneous approvals totalled $ 72 million. recent figures show a moderate recovery in bank lending. fiji ’ s tourism industry • visitor arrivals : visitor arrivals are at historical highs. a strong recovery in visitor arrivals by an annual 12 percent was seen in the first seven months of the year. using the fiji islands visitors bureau ’ s growth forecast of around 571, 000 visitors for 2008 translates to a projected annual growth rate of around 6 percent. • visitor arrivals by country : our nearest neighbours, australia and new zealand, account for more than half ( 56 % ) of our visitor source market. the growing markets of us ( 12 % ), canada ( 3 % ) and europe ( 15 % ), provide us with 30 % of our visitors. • tourism earnings : while we note historically high levels in visitor arrivals, tourism earnings is what ultimately matters – for the industry and for the country in terms of foreign exchange, employment and investment. tourism earnings have largely been flat since 2004. in 2008, we expect a marginal improvement over 2006 earnings levels, a 6. 7 percent rise in 2009 and a 14. 6 increase in 2010. thereafter we are hopeful that the tourism earnings will reach and surpass the $ 1 billion mark. • gross foreign exchange earners in 2008 : tourism is the major source of foreign exchange for fiji forming around 23 percent of total foreign exchange receipts in gross terms. • occupancy : there has been a huge level of investment into the hotel industry in the last few years where we have seen new hotels, renovations / extension of existing ones and an expansion of services provided ( weddings / spas / conventions ). the increase in hotels and rooms have seen occupancy levels fall. 50 percent of tourism capacity in terms of room days is unutilised. the challenge for the industry and for the country is to fill these rooms. • employment : the hotels & restaurants sector directly employed around 9, 000 workers in 2007. using the hotels employment multiplier of 2. 6, the total employment generated by the tourism industry is approximately 23, 400 workers. the employment multiplier was sourced from a 1990 study by the tourism council of the south pacific ( tcsp ). foreign exchange receipts include exports of good ( fob ) and services, income and

think about how we can further improve our efforts in combating money laundering. prosecuting money laundering is a key tool in combating money laundering and other crimes in fiji. let ’ s come back to the 4th annual money laundering conference next year with more positive stories to share and not have to revisit where we have been falling down! our anti - money laundering laws and the efforts by financial institutions, the police, fiu and other investigative agencies will be in vain if criminals are not being successfully prosecuted for money laundering. it will also be in vain if criminals are allowed to live off the profit of their illegal activities. so let us return to our workplaces with clear and definite goals of how we can apply the lessons learnt from today ’ s conference in our respective work areas. our collaborative efforts in investigating and prosecuting money laundering crimes will provide a strong message to criminals and their associates that “ crime does not pay. ” ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience and i now have the pleasure of formally closing the 2011 3rd national anti - money laundering conference. vinaka vakalevu bis central bankers ’ speeches