Meanwhile, the year-on-year rate of change in the consumer price index (CPI) for all items excluding fresh food, or the core CPI – which measures the prices of goods and services purchased by households – had been in negative territory for about two years since March 2009 but turned positive in April 2011 against the background of the increase in international commodity prices and the narrowing of the negative output gap.
Times are obviously tough in Fiji now. Our biggest economic challenge is to maintain external financial stability at a time when the economy is declining. Without financial stability, the country will be in a much precarious position. I always stress to my colleagues that we have an important national mandate to keep at the Reserve Bank.