Unity Fiji Leader Savenaca Narube says he is disappointed that the ‘fiscal strategic report’ released by the Government, did not articulate clearly what was new and what was old.
In a statement issued by the former Governor of the Reserve Bank, Narube said the report which read ‘business as usual’ is misrepresentative, and that the Government should have taken the opportunity to clearly stamp its mark on the pressing issues of fiscal sustainability, which the leading Opposition Parties were screaming at before the 2022 General Election.
Narube said the medium-term fiscal strategy is the first report released by the Coalition Government, earlier this month.
“It is therefore a strategically important document for the new Government. However, I am surprised at the tone, the coverage and the analysis of this important report.”
He said the report did not point out the serious fallacies of the previous fiscal management and indicated a false reliance on Government spending to maintain economic growth.
The former Governor said the continuous large wastages including politically motivated expenses, the large operational and capital transfers to off-budget entities without performance conditions and the abuse of the tender processes by politicians which have been confirmed by the Auditor-General.
“Like the previous Government, the document underplayed the cost-of-living crisis. This is a serious national issue and must be addressed immediately. The Government must do more than the previous Government to address the crisis, rather than just blame it on the rise in world prices while stating inflation is low.”
“People are simply not interested in domestic or imported inflated. They are only interested in the prices that they pay,” Narube added.
Meanwhile, attempts by FijiLive to get comments from the Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad on the matter were futile.
