Kirisitiana Uluwai 
Balancing political survival and government survival is crucial to ensure that we have a healthy fiscal status.
Economic stakeholders who have criticized the 2023-24 national budget say this is crucial to addressing our fiscal crisis.
The coalition government is caught in a dilemma between managing an economy with a debt crisis and fulfilling its election promises.
Fiji National University Associate Dean, Doctor Asaeli Tuibeqa argues that the nation is in a risky situation when governments prioritize their political standing over economic needs.
“You know what is bittersweet about this approach when we first consider political survival instead of government survival, we kind of reducing this nation to people who will be begging. A nation that will continue to beg.”
Dr Tuibeqa claims the government’s expenditure signifies that it hasn’t learned from its predecessors.
“If we are going to keep on increasing the expenditure, this expenditure to some extent could be attributed by the pay-back, the giveaways, free lunch whatever that has been packaged together with political survival.”
Economic Professor Wadan Narsey says the government prioritized its political survival with this financial year’s budget.
Meanwhile, ANZ Economists have labelled the Coalition government’s first budget as fulfilling election promises early, especially relating to the delivery of core services.
Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.
