Strategies to Accelerate Industrialization of FIJI

Abstract

The terms of trade that Fiji faces in the post-growth period will deteriorate as the international price of her exports (i.e., agricultural products) tends to increase less rapidly compared with that of her imports (i.e., manufacturing products). This deterioration of the terms of trade facing the Fijian exporters could offset the normal gains associated with growth over time. Therefore Fiji should accelerate industrialization immediately as her national goal. In order for Fiji to successfully accelerate industrialization, the government should establish a set of basic principles as follows: (a) condensed growth, (b) light manufacturing industrialization first, heavy and chemical industrialization later, (c) government initiatives, (d) foreign capital inducement and export-led growth, and (e) growth primacy. Based on the above principles of Fiji's industrialization, the following development strategies should be adopted: (a) Leadership commitment for industrialization, (b) Government-led development strategy, (c) Outward-looking development strategy, (d) Growth-first-distribution-later policy, (e) Domestic resources mobilization and foreign capital inducement, (J) Human resource development, (g) Environmentally sustainable development To fully moderni=e Fiji on her track of industrialization, the following development strategies should be adopted: (a) Village movement, (b) Promoting economic and social status of indigenous Fijians, and (c) Nation building