A Re-examination of Private Consumption in Fiji

Abstract

Recently the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) claimed that private consumption expenditure in Fiji has grown considerably in past years. For policy purposes, it is important to re-investigate the determinants of consumption in Fiji. This paper used alternative time series techniques to estimate real private consumption for Fiji using annual data from 1975-2005. It is found that the income and availability of consumer credit elasticities are significant and plausible. A stable real private consumption function is also attained using CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests