The possible devaluation of the Fiji dollar is in the limelight again, following comments by an Australia-based Fiji academic.
The associate professor of International and Development Economics at the Australian National University, Satish Chand, has told a seminar at the USP that the Fiji dollar is overvalued by as much as 12-percent, and the only solution is devaluation.
Professor Chand says while devaluation will cause pain, Fiji doesn't have much of a choice.
He says the Fiji dollar has been appreciating with the Australian and New Zealand dollars and the Euro.
But Professor Chand says with exports down and Fiji's economy contracting, the Reserve Bank has little choice but to bring the value of the Fiji dollar down unless it can draw on huge reserves of foreign currency.
