Over the past seven years the Fijian Government has spent more than $600 million on recovery and rehabilitation after natural disasters, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad said as he launched the study report “Towards Resilient Public Finance: National Assessment of the Fiscal Risks in Critical Infrastructure Sectors in Fiji.”
Prasad stressed that the financial toll reflects real losses to lives, livelihoods and essential services such as health and education. He said the assessment will underpin Fiji’s first disaster risk financing policy, giving the government tools and strategies to better align the national budget with likely disaster costs and to speed up response when shocks hit.
“Our national development plan 2025–2029 and Vision 2050 make it clear: every road, seaport, airport, water, waste and energy system must be designed for the climate realities of tomorrow, not based on yesterday’s patterns,” he said, and reiterated Fiji’s call for climate finance that is accessible, predictable and scaled to meet urgent needs.
The government is strengthening contingent financing arrangements so resources can be deployed immediately after a disaster. Prasad said Fiji has a standby concessional loan facility of roughly $72 million with Japan for future recovery and rehabilitation needs. Fiji has also previously negotiated standby concessional facilities with partners and uses instruments such as the World Bank Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option in its broader readiness mix.
Ramesh Subramaniam, Global Director of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), noted that the study compiles historical disaster data to identify the gap between damages and the fiscal response—a key metric for planning. “First is looking at past data; second is learning from it—what has been the extent of the damages, what has been the fiscal response, and what is the gap between the damages and losses and the fiscal response?” he said.
The Ministry of Finance is also pursuing capital for resilience: it aims to raise $500 million through a Pacific Resilience Fund to support community-level adaptation and resilient infrastructure investments.
Additional comments and practical steps to speed recovery and strengthen resilience
– Faster, sector-specific post-disaster needs and damage assessments are essential. Pre-agreed templates, standardized methodologies and clear sector triggers can shorten assessment-to-funding timelines and enable quicker access to external support.
– Pre-costed sector disaster finance plans should identify priorities, responsible agencies and disbursement rules to reduce bottlenecks and duplication.
– Digital field data collection, trained surge assessment teams and pre-positioned budget lines help shave weeks off emergency responses.
– Integrating climate and disaster risk into macroeconomic policy (contingency funds, conservative debt buffers, investment screening) improves fiscal resilience.
– Consistent data standards across Finance, Climate, Infrastructure, Health and Education ministries strengthen damage estimates and funding applications to multilateral and bilateral partners.
Why this matters (logical explanation)
A formal fiscal risk assessment reveals recurring cost drivers and the funding shortfalls that follow disasters. Knowing the historic gap between damage and fiscal response allows the government to design financing instruments (grants, concessional loans, contingent facilities) and budget contingencies that can be triggered rapidly—reducing the time communities wait for repairs, restoring essential services faster, and limiting secondary economic losses.
Summary
The new national assessment links historical disaster losses to fiscal responses and will inform Fiji’s first disaster risk financing policy. Combined with existing standby facilities with partners and a planned $500 million Pacific Resilience Fund, the work aims to speed funding flows, close response gaps and direct investments to climate-resilient infrastructure under Fiji’s 2025–2029 plan and Vision 2050.
Hopeful outlook
By turning lessons from past disasters into a formal financing framework and by expanding contingent financing and resilient investment, Fiji is taking concrete steps to reduce recovery times and protect lives and services. Improved assessment systems and targeted funds make it more likely that future disasters will cause less long-term disruption to communities and the national budget.
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