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Business Business

the data is desegregated by country. work options.
In Fiji, a local non-government organisation, Dialogue Fiji, All are prepared to provide paid leave to employees who
has also conducted a survey of 145 businesses through online need it if they are sick with COVID-19 and 89% will provide
forms distributed and returned on social media channels. Dia- paid leave for self-isolation or quarantine. Four out of the
logue Fiji says while the sample size is small, these rapid and nine will provide paid leave for an employee to care for an
simple surveys still provide valuable information. infected family member.
54% of the businesses surveyed had made redundant more The Australian government/Export Finance Australia and the
than half of their workers by the end of April, and 39 of these Australia-Papua New Guinea/Fiji/Pacific Business Councils are
had made 90% to 100% of their workers redundant. Alterna- also conducting online surveys of Australian businesses who
tively, businesses reduced working hours for some or all em- are actively trading or investing in the Pacific Islands, in order
ployees, prompting Dialogue Fiji to say: “This option has been to better support those businesses.
a more positive one than the decision to terminate worker’s The opening of borders will undoubtedly be one issue raised
employments which have been taken by some employers.” by respondents. Across the Tasman, the New Zealand Fiji Busi-
An overwhelming 98.7% of respondents say the pandemic ness Council is already calling on the New Zealand Govern-
has had an adverse impact on their sales volumes or business ment to include Pacific nations in a “travel bubble”.
activities. Of the businesses surveyed, the highest propor- Council members say as a result of the travel bans, Fiji-
tion (33%) believed that they would be able to sustain their based employees are stranded in New Zealand, businesses
businesses at the prevalent levels of business activity for just have been unable to redeploy New Zealand personnel to Fiji,
three months. A further 16% say they could last six months, they cannot travel to Fiji to prepare and complete tenders
and 12% said that they would be able to sustain operations for for construction projects, and are unable to deploy skilled
a year. 2.7% of respondents said that they had already closed personnel to Fiji to assist with the installation, commissioning
their businesses temporarily, and another 2% of those sur- and maintenance of machinery and equipment.
veyed said that they had permanently closed their businesses. Council President Chandar Sen said: “It is absolutely criti-
Almost half the respondents surveyed believed that it will cal that the tourism industry resumes without delay in Fiji.
take 12 months for their businesses to recover. 37% of respon- Opening up the borders between the two countries would not
dents placed the recovery period as six months. Dialogue Fiji only enable many New Zealanders to take longer holidays,
says the view that the worst of the pandemic will be over in but will provide the much needed kick-start to the severely
around six months is “rather optimistic… given the lack of challenged Fijian economy which is having the obvious flow-
reliable data or projection models of the trajectory of the on effects not only on the people of Fiji but also those New
COVID-19 outbreak in Fiji.” Zealanders currently doing business in Fiji.”
While these early surveys have provided valuable insights, Business Link Pacific, a project supported by the New
Fiji’s Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport Zealand government, is also running an online survey of SMEs,
(MCTTT) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) which it says will inform future initiatives. BLP is offering a
are also urging businesses to participate in a survey they are subsidy scheme to “make services more affordable, minimise
collaborating on, particularly in the leadup to the national risks and introduce businesses to reliable and quality ser-
budget. vices.”
Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Meanwhile in the North Pacific, the Guam Chamber of Com-
Transport, Shaheen Ali, says the information will also form an merce says 87% of businesses polled say they have been nega-
important basis for Fiji’s development partners to engage with tively affected by COVID-19. Almost all respondents said they
Fiji. had reduced employee hours, implemented furloughs or laid
“We will need to be innovative and creative, we can do that off staff. Others have reduced community contributions, put
in Fiji if we know what the businesses are facing and what a freeze on spending, reduced inventory, eliminated employee
their key priorities are. The most important objective of this benefits, temporarily closed businesses, and implemented
survey is to hear directly from business sector,” IFC country social distancing and remote work protocols.
representative to Fiji, Samoa, Tonga Kiribati and Tuvalu, Deva More than half the respondents (60%) have called or a tem-
De Silva said. porary reduction in the business privilege tax, with most say-
The IFC has already completed a survey of nine compa- ing they would use any savings gained to maintain and retain
nies from the Waka Mere initiative (which promotes gender employees. 22% would reinvest in business improvements,
equality in the private sector) in Solomon Islands. 89% of them while others say they would pass the savings on to consumers
report experiencing a reduction in demand and 78% a reduc- and pay business obligations.
tion in turnover or cash flow. The survey showed that 56% of A significant 77% of the respondents said the Government
the businesses who took part may need to downsize in the of Guam was not doing enough to help the business and its
next year due to impacts of COVID-19. employees during the pandemic.
All companies surveyed are ready to implement social
distancing and provide personal protection equipment if an editor@islandsbusiness.com
outbreak occurs, while 67% have the tools needed for flexible

Islands Business, June 2020 15