Leading businesses have been urged to partner with the government to bring prosperity to all Fijians.

At the Fiji Business Forum in Suva today, a number of government ministers explained how initiatives in the new budget will bear fruit in the years to come.

Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum pointed out that despite the shock from TC Winston, businesses have not been burdened.

“We don’t want to chop and change from year to year. We want you to be able to have that confidence and understand what’s happening and be free to be able to invest.

The easy prey would have been listed companies, we could have easily said lets increase it to 15% (tax) but we didn’t do that. The whole idea was to build the level of confidence."

Sayed-Khaiyum says the days are long gone when a government could not match the needs of everyday Fijians and businesses at the same time.

The Minister for Economy pointed out that over the years, the government has channelled huge amounts of money towards the poor.

Simultaneously, there has been fundamental and tangible assistance that gives long term confidence to businesses.