Fiji, traditionally a non-remittance country, is now becoming a remittance economy with thousands of citizens heading to work overseas. The country has joined other Pacific remittance economies such as Samoa and Tonga.

Until the late 1990s, the volume of remittances in Fiji due to the old (permanent) migration was insignificant. For example, it was only about $F36 million in 1993, mainly in the form of gifts and maintenances. Since the late 1990s, Fiji has been generating remittances mainly through personal receipts from new labour migrants, especially peacekeeping forces. Personal remittances accounted for about 97 per cent of the total remittances to the country in 2004. Personal remittances involve three categories of receipts: gifts and maintenance received by individuals, funds brought into the country by the immigrants, including legacies, and salaries and allowances of expatriates and pensions for retirees. While personal receipts through salary and allowances constituted little more than two-thirds of the total remittances, receipts in the form of gifts and maintenance received by individuals accounted for a little less than one-third in 2004 (Reserve Bank of Fiji 2005). The remittances through immigrant transfers constituted insignificant proportions of the total personal remittances (0.3 per cent).

The volume of remittances in Fiji has increased since 2000. Between 1993 and 1999, the growth of remittances was slow, only 38 per cent with an average figure of $F49 million a year. It increased more than 218 per cent during 2000–04, with an average amount of $F205 million a year (Table 2). The flow of total personal remittances accounted for more than $F1 billion during the period 2000–04. This dramatic rise was due mainly to the remittances generated through the salaries and allowances of peacekeeping forces and private security personnel abroad.

Source: Reserve Bank of Fiji, 2005.

The volume of formally transferred remittances has increased from about $F36 million in 1993 to $F297 million in 2004, a growth of more than 720 per cent between 1993 and 2004 (Table 2). Beside the formal transfer, a substantial volume of personal remittances is transferred to Fiji informally and remains officially unrecorded (Fiji Times 2005a). The total volume of remittances from formal and informal transfers to Fiji can be estimated at $F450–500 million. This accounts for about 7 per cent of the GDP of the country.

As Table 3 shows, the income generated through personal remittances in Fiji is now next to the foreign exchange earnings through tourism. In 2004, personal remittances were worth more than earnings from garments, textiles and footwear and were also worth more than sugar, gold, fish and mineral water export earnings combined (Table 3).

Source: Government of Fiji, Reserve Bank of Fiji and Trade Release, 2005.