Former finance minister and opposition MP Professor Biman Prasad has warned that rising global fuel costs pose broader and deeper economic risks for Fiji than the immediate threat of supply shortages. In remarks to media this week, Prasad said the fallout from higher international oil prices could quickly translate into imported inflation, strain on foreign reserves and increased shipping and freight costs — effects that would ripple across tourism, transport, agriculture, fishing, construction and electricity supply.
“The long-term risks are really not only about just running out of fuel,” Prasad said, noting that higher fuel prices can “very quickly feed into domestic costs even when supply itself remains available.” He warned that those cost pressures would likely weaken business confidence and reduce household purchasing power, amplifying the impact of any initial price shock across the economy.
Prasad urged an immediate review and strengthening of Fiji’s fuel security framework. In the medium to long term he called for greater fuel reserve capacity and clearer stock-holding requirements, as well as a diversification of procurement and supply-chain routes to reduce the country’s exposure to single-source or single-route disruptions. Such steps, he argued, would help blunt the transmission of global price spikes into the domestic economy.
Beyond supply-side measures, Prasad emphasised the urgency of accelerating the transition to renewable energy as set out in the National Development Plan. He said longer-term reliance on renewables would reduce the economy’s fuel intensity, and that significant investment was also needed in public transport infrastructure and in improving maritime logistics efficiency so the nation “generally uses less fuel in the total output of the economy.”
Prasad also cautioned that the government could not fully shield households and businesses from rising prices. “So, my overall assessment is that our economic fundamentals remains strong and with the right mix of policies we will be able to ride through this crisis,” he said, stressing the importance of policy choices that protect purchasing power while keeping macroeconomic stability intact.
His comments follow warnings from the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission in March that ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could push up both fuel and food prices in Fiji. The commission noted Fiji imports all its fuel — about 16 percent of total imports — and that local pump prices typically reflect international movements with around a one-month lag, underscoring how quickly global shocks can filter into the domestic market.
Prasad’s intervention reframes earlier supply-focused concerns as a broader economic challenge and adds pressure on policymakers to pursue a mix of immediate resilience measures and longer-term structural change. Strengthening fuel reserves and procurement, accelerating renewables, and improving transport and maritime efficiency are presented not just as cost-saving measures but as strategic moves to reduce Fiji’s vulnerability to imported inflation and balance-of-payments stress.
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