Women, Children and Social Welfare Minister, Mereseini Vuniwaqa says the 2018/2019 budget is a transition from people’s budget to a family budget.
Vuniwaqa says it seeks to build upon the foundation laid by the government with the past budgets.
She says every item in the budget is geared to improve livelihoods, alleviate poverty and empower Fijians in years to come.
The Minister says the Opposition Members can continue with their criticism but this will not stop the government from moving forward.
“The Opposition can call it an ‘election budget’ or a ‘sugar-coated budget’ or an ‘I love me’ budget or a pre-election bribe or whatever the name they wish to call it. The bottom line Madam Speaker is this-this government will continue to give such budgets to the Fijian people because that’s what we swore to do when we took up office because that is what the Fijian people deserve. They’ve been neglected for too long by other governments. This is not a one-off story we are telling through this budget. It is a consistent story with a consistent theme.”
The Ministry has been allocated $133m in the new financial year, an increase of $19.6m compared to last year.
