Kirisitiana Uluwai 
Suva Harbour.
Fiji’s debt is one of the highest in the Pacific revealed in a Fiji-Asian Development Bank report this year.
The Minister for Finance stated that this was due to pre-COVID economic contractions.
Professor Biman Prasad says the COVID-19 pandemic rubbed salt to an already wounded economy.
“Fiji was one of the four countries in the world which had the highest economic contraction and we also need to know that our economy contracted in 2019 before COVID, we had a negative growth so when COVID hit us, it made things worse.”
Finance Minister, Professor Biman Prasad.
Prasad says the Coalition government is committed to fixing a worn-out economy they inherited from the Bainimarama administration.
“But I want to tell the people of Fiji our Prime Minister, myself and the whole government is committed to a budget that is fiscally, socially and economically responsibly.”
ILO Officer in Charge, David Clarkson.
The International Labor Organization Officer in Charge David Clarkson says that Fiji has potential and all is not lost.
“The Pacific Island Countries and Fiji in particular with your unique cultural diversity, your stunning natural beauty, fantastic natural resources and incredible resilience possess immense potential for economic growth and development.”
A possible tax increase will be a hard pill to swallow for many families reeling from the prolonged impacts of COVID-19 but given Fiji’s $9 billion debt backdrop – this is highly likely to happen. Kirisitiana
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