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Fiji's economy is paying the price of its coups, but also the price of its strategy of keeping wage rates low. Instead of developing and retaining its human capital, low wages have caused many skilled professionals to emigrate to better opportunities overseas, leaving Fiji with fewer business leaders and a less effective government.

Hi Terence, I believe there is an additional reason to the downward slope for countries scoring less than 0.55 on the Human Development Index. The bottom 34 countries - all scoring 0.55 or less - are all on the African continent but for Afghanistan. Of the next 26 countries, which covers HDI values between 0.55 and 0.65, 16 countries are located in the Asia-Pacific. This is the group of countries that according to your article receives the highest percentage-share of donations. I presume, it is fair to say that the Australian government is focusing the majority of its aid-spend on countries in the Asia-Pacific region. I would argue, the downward slope show exactly that the the NGOs are following the government non-NGO spend. It is telling a story of lesser interest in lowest-scoring countries, all of which happens to be on the African continent, and a higher interest towards Asia-Pacific which also traditionally has a higher political and national interest. It would be great to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you Nina Hjortlund Founding Director and CEO Australia for Cedar Tanzania

Fiji is not wrecked by tensions from the two ethnic groups it is wrecked by the people who are leading the country the Prime Minister and the Attorney General who is also the Minister for Every thing in Fiji and who is also the General Secretary of of the Fiji First Party

Thanks Bob. As Parliamentary Sec for International Development you were instrumental in supporting this orphan issue. Those small initial investments continue to deliver very high returns, and are evidenced across the resolution. The requirement for a multi-sectoral response to drowning continues to make finding a home a challenge.

Reading about the 2002 elections, is not very different from reading about the 2017 elections. Let's hope those of 2022 will be different. What happened after the Morauta government is that the successive governments still kept going through the moves, and pretended to prepare SOEs such as PNG Power for eventual privatization. This to keep the IMF, World Bank and IADB happy by making the right noises. This gave now convicted criminals like Rex Paki the opportunity to sell off state assets, and pocket the proceeds. The same Rex Paki was also put into the PNG University of Technology Council, where he became chair of the University Development Corporation, and managed to steal K3M through land deals. Beware of the reformers!

It gods bless n honest with God.

Excellent accessible blog illustrating why governance matters to development. And from Economists! Well done

I want to share my view with organization.

It is hard to understand why children are not taught to swim. We learnt in the Richmond River in Casino. As a lover of water I taught swimming for years. It is so hard though when water is not handy and dams are dangerous. Shame too that swimming pools are so expensive .

This is a very positive step in the right direction on an under-recognized issue. Congratulations Justin on your tireless work on this issue.

Epipola, Sorry I missed your comment when it came in. Also sorry that I cannot provide advice on your nephew's situation. He needs to call the SWP hotline to explain his situation so that appropriate advice can be given. Richard

Very good summary on points Such a great leaders. God bless you and your words ❣️