and climate change which, apart from damaging infrastructure and basic utilities and eroding years of development in a few hours, can significantly affect domestic production, exports and our services and tourism sector. nevertheless, a notable upside risk to our growth outlook is the still relatively low international fuel prices which have resulted in windfall gains for fiji through lower import costs and lower total gross trade as share of gdp = 80 % ( average for 2012 – 14 ) bis central bankers ’ speeches inflation. this is particularly pertinent when you consider mineral fuels make up almost 30 percent of our total imports bill. recent developments in the fiji economy ladies and gentlemen, despite the sizeable devastation from the category 5 tropical cyclone ( tc ) winston packing winds in excess of 300 kmph in february and the floods associated with tc zena in april, i am pleased to say that the fiji economy is still poised to grow this year, by 2. 4 percent, our seventh straight year of growth ( something which we have not enjoyed since the early 1970 ’ s ). this growth reflects robust activity in our tourism - related industries, including the transport, wholesale, retail, accommodation & food services industries, which were relatively unscathed by tc winston. moreover, this growth also assumes a strong expansion in the construction sector due to post cyclone reconstruction activity, which will also boost retail activity. however, on the downside, a significant decline is expected in agricultural output this year, particularly for sugar, which had earlier also been impacted by el - nino drought conditions. furthermore, the extreme devastation to many household dwellings and livelihoods especially in the maritime areas, damage to schools and health facilities, water supply and power supply disruptions which to date have not been fully restored, have exacerbated the situation. nevertheless, ladies and gentlemen, the quick response and immediate and tremendous assistance by our development partners – including australia and new zealand, the business community and family members and friends of fiji both locally and abroad, are making a tremendous difference in helping our people get back on their feet through inflows of grantsin - aid and kind. government efforts were nothing short of swift in facilitating access to the worst affected areas and also in implementing measures to assist financially stricken businesses and households. some of these initiatives include the “ help for homes ” and “ adopt a school ” campaigns. we know that the many military and civilian personnel from your countries who came in immediately after tc winston played a huge role in turning the lives of many of our people around

can grow into medium and big businesses. many of our large companies like tappoos and motibhais started from very humble beginnings. this brings hope to everyone. the key is hard work, perseverance and prudence. when these small businesses grow they can look at the export market and also add to investment. small businesses can directly help in import substitution. we can use more of our natural resources to fulfil our basic needs. they are not only cheap they are healthy. constraints let me pose this question : what are the constraints to starting and operating small businesses? some of the more common answers are difficult access to finance, lack of skills and lack of access to markets. on finance, i am glad that the fiji development bank is putting its money where its mouth is. the national centre for small and micro enterprise development is also a financing option. the reserve bank is currently examining ways that can facilitate access to financing for small businesses. still on this issue of finance, we have been amazed at the increase in personal remittances from abroad which have provided us with much needed foreign exchange. one of the issues that we are encouraging is for us to spend these remittances in a more useful manner. one of the best ways of doing this is to use these remittances to start small businesses. the benefits will last for a long time. the reserve bank is also looking at ways in which we can help facilitate this. we are also talking with commercial banks on how we can work together to help small businesses. one of the issues that i am hopeful that we can collaborate on is the provision of training on how to plan and successfully run small businesses. debt the national budget was voted on in the house yesterday. let me say a few things on this topical issue. another of our major challenges is to reduce our rising debt level. i am encouraged that the government has addressed this challenge in the 2007 budget. it has made the commitment to lower the fiscal deficit to 2 percent of gdp in 2007 and to maintain this level over the next five years. this is expected to bring government debt back down to 45 percent of gdp by 2011. the other aspect of the budget that was encouraging is the implementation of the government ’ s policy support program. it will be important that this program is heavy on reforms in the key areas of the civil service, public enterprise and public financial management. budget strategy supports monetary policy it was also important to see that fiscal policy is complementing