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Addressing the National Economic Summit in Honiara today, Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele called on key stakeholders to explore innovative ways to achieve resilient, transformative and sustainable economic growth, achieve inclusive development and leave no one behind.
The two-day summit brought together key stakeholders from the private sector, state-owned enterprises, development partners and provincial governments to engage in dialogue with the national government on driving overall economic growth in the Solomon Islands.
The summit outcomes will set a clear policy direction, help governments implement measures and prioritize resources in the short to medium term to achieve higher sustainable growth rates in the post-epidemic recovery.
“The summit will serve as a platform to present and take stock of the current economic situation in our country, identify the barriers hindering productivity growth and jointly develop feasible strategies to address these barriers and pave the way for transformative and sustainable socio-economic growth and inclusive development.”
“I therefore call on everyone to work together and strengthen partnerships to ensure that the outcomes of this summit are implemented,” the Prime Minister said.
Solomon Islands real GDP growth has struggled to keep pace with population growth and NDS Target 1, which is to increase GDP growth to 5% by 2025 and 7% by 2030 and beyond.
The country has historically relied on a handful of industries to drive economic growth. One of the key sectors, logging, has seen its output slow down compared to pre-COVID-19 levels. The government’s heavy reliance on logging, one of the main sources of revenue and foreign exchange earnings, poses a risk to macroeconomic stability.
It is therefore imperative to examine how the government can diversify the economy and help key sectors address the major impediments to growth and promote growth in these sectors.
“We must foster an environment that is conducive to resilient, transformative and sustainable economic growth, while ensuring that development is inclusive and benefits all sectors of society,” said Prime Minister Manele. “This requires us to think innovatively, embrace new technologies and explore untapped potential in sectors such as agriculture, mining, tourism, fisheries and energy.”
The primary sector has the potential to offset revenues from logging, but the government recognises that enabling the environment to “foster resilient, transformative, sustainable economic growth and inclusive development” is essential to moving the economy forward and achieving targets under the National Development Strategy 2016-2035.
The National Economic Summit is an important part of the government’s 100-day policy and is led by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Planning and Development Coordination.
The outcomes of the summit will help the government develop a framework for key thematic areas over the next four years and align them with government priorities.
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