The Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Savenaca Narube reiterated Thursday Fiji's key economic challenge is to reverse the widening trade deficit.

Narube said exports must be the platform for growth and the country must speedily implement strategies to grow exports like sugar, gold and other resourced based products, according to Fijilive, a Suva-based news service.

He said tourism holds good potential to continue to be the major drive of growth.

In 2007, Fiji's economic growth is expected to decline by 2.5 percent compared to an initial growth forecast of 2 percent.

According to Narube, certain sectors of the economy like finance, agriculture, manufacturing and electricity are estimated to grow in 2007.

However, the mining, transport, wholesale and retail, community service and building and construction sectors are expected to decline.

Visitor arrivals are also projected to drop in 2007.

Narube said it is encouraging that the economy is expected to grow by 2 percent in 2008.

He said the Reserve Bank will monitor economic developments closely and will implement policies that will help maintain macroeconomic stability and safeguard Fiji's financial position.

Source: Xinhua