Fiji is facing a brain drain crisis. Speaking at the National Economic Summit yesterday, Finance Ministry permanent secretary Shiri Gounder said 22,000 people moved abroad, with 16,000 going on work permits.

He said the issue was highlighted to the Fiscal Review Committee during their consultations over the past six weeks.

However, he said the loss of skilled personnel was not new.

“Every single meeting we have been to over the last six to twelve months, everybody has talked about the tight labour market,” Mr Gounder said.

“The Ministry of Finance has lost 20 per cent of its staff, most of whom have migrated.

“When you look at the numbers, in 2022 alone, we have lost close to 22,000 people.

“In terms of migration there were 5000 and 16,000 going on work permits.

“Very significant components of skilled people we are losing are going on student visas.

“There are a lot of Fijians that are going overseas on student visas because Australia has allowed 40 hours of work and we have lost a lot of people.”

He said the private and public sectors were facing many challenges because of people leaving.

“All countries are seeing pressure in their wages, which is going to put pressure on the prices, and there are expectations that central banks will continue to tighten monetary policies which can potentially further hurt the global economy, having further implications for Fiji and all countries in the world.”