In its August Economic Review, Fiji's central bank said its June 2020 Retail Sales Survey results show that sales are expected to decline by a record 19.8 percent.
The bank further added that the business confidence and investment outlook sentiments as per the RBF's June 2020 Business Expectations Survey remains bleak.
This is based on overall business confidence and investment intentions for the next six months, which are in negative territory.
Contractions were also noted in the commercial banks' new lending for building and construction activity, domestic cement sales and investment spending remains well below 2019 levels.
RBF said partial indicators for consumption and investment are in line with the expected 21.7 percent economic contraction this year.
Commercial banks' new lending for consumption purposes was at minus 23.7, net Value Added Tax (VAT) collections stood at minus 35.8 percent and new vehicle sales at minus 51.7 percent contracted further.
The report said in the financial sector, credit growth continued to slow up until July as commercial banks' lending to the private sector decelerated.
New lending by commercial banks and licensed credit institutions further declined on an annual basis.
Labor market conditions also mirror the economic slump and the large employment shifts within the tourism industry and related sectors.
As per the RBF Jobs Advertisement Survey, job vacancies noted a decline of 60.8 percent in July compared to the same period last year.
One positive that was noted was that second-hand vehicle registrations was up by 40.1 percent, electricity consumption increased by 2.3 percent and the net VAT collections at 7.1 percent registered growth over the month of July.
The total banks' demand deposits increased in August with it reaching a record level of 992.6 million Fijian dollars (about 472.1 million U.S. dollars) on August 17.
As at August 28, total excess liquidity in the banking system stood at 978.5 million Fijian dollars (about 465.9 million U.S. dollars).
The year-end inflation is now forecast at minus 3.0 percent with declines expected in prices for alcohol, kava, food and transport.
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