PINA

The recent pandemic shock will further affect fiscal revenue collections and increase expenditure commitments of the Government, forecasts the Reserve Bank of Fiji. In its May economic review, the RBF revealed that in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the Government recorded a net deficit of $905.0 million (US$445 million) (-9.7 per cent of GDP) as expenditure...

China Navigation is to sign for a revolutionary sail-assisted newbuild this month as part of a package of green measures announced today. The Swire subsidiary has also come out in favour of the proposal put forward to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) by the Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands to establish a universal, mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) levy with...

The world must harness “clear, transformative and actionable solutions” to address the ocean crisis, the President of the UN General Assembly said on Tuesday, opening a meeting to generate momentum towards the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, when public health safety measures allow. “Simply speaking, our relationship with our planet’s ocean must change”, Assembly President Volkan Bozkir told a high-level thematic debate...

It was the first time for the government to boycott itself from parliament Tuesday morning, said Vanuatu Leader of Opposition, Ralph Regenvanu. “We have never seen this kind of behavior in the parliament of Vanuatu before,” said Regenvanu who is serving his fourth term in Parliament. “It was a bizarre and irresponsible behavior since there’s business to attend to. “We have a...

-Today marks a historic moment for Vanuatu as the Ministry of Health launches its COVID-19 vaccination rollout. With the long-awaited and planned for COVID-19 vaccines arriving on 19 May, the 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca will be the first COVID-19 vaccines to be used in Vanuatu to vaccinate the first 20 percent of its population. The vaccine will be rolled...

Akaiti Puna was sworn in as Manihiki’s new Cook Islands Member of Parliament on Monday during a flash sitting. Puna, who won the Manihiki seat for the Cook Islands Party by 49 votes early last month, entered Parliament for the first time yesterday as an elected MP to take the oath of office. “I’m glad it’s over, I’m glad that bits...

Governments are being urged to finance a new US$50 billion roadmap to end the COVID-19 pandemic and drive a fast recovery, announced on Tuesday by the heads of the world’s predominant global financing, health and trade agencies. The plan seeks to scale-up supplies of vaccines, tests and treatments, thus reducing the “equity gap” in developing countries, the leaders of the...

Fifty plus electoral petitions and counter-petitions have been pushed back twice to allow the Courts to deal with constitutional issues that resulted in a Government in limbo. Three Supreme Courts will be operating simultaneously on Monday next week to hear the electoral petitions – the last test for the winning members to secure 5 years tenure in Parliament. The Appellate Court...

The Nadi Hospital and two wings of Fiji’s largest referral health facility – CWM Hospital – have been put on lockdown after positive cases of COVID-19 were detected there. The case at the Nadi hospital – a staff – is from the Nawaka cluster. And in addition to this staff, the Ministry of Health announced last night that further investigation had...

Vanuatu's Supreme Court will sit on Wednesday morning to hear an urgent application from the government, which wants to remove parliament's speaker. Prime Minister Bob Loughman and his government walked out of parliament on Tuesday after Gracia Shadrak refused to let them debate a motion to remove him. Shadrak has fallen out with the government after agreeing to a motion to...