Peceli Naviticoko 
Opposition Member, Jone Usamate.
Opposition Member Jone Usamate claims that no country in the world has had continuous growth all the time for 20 to 30 years.
Usamate was responding to what Attorney General Siromi Turaga mentioned earlier in parliament that Fiji’s economy was already declining before COVID-19 hit.
Usamate says this was one of the reasons why they had to borrow money to look after the people, and not only Fiji took this measure.
“Tell me which country, Attorney-General, which country. Let me tell you the basics of economics. There are always cycles of economic growth. There are always cycles of economic growth. In this country, for the first time ever, under our leadership, we had one cycle. The only time we had a cycle of nine years of continuous growth. When you have nine years, you go up the hill. Sometimes it will be a slight dip, then you go up again.”
He says that growth was increasing, and during the pandemic, taxes declined by 50% and government revenue declined by 50%.
Usamate adds that there is nothing new in the budget as it lacks innovation and new thinking.
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