Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad

Fiji has lost 70,000 to 80,000 people in the last 18 months, many of them with significant technical training and experience.

Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad says people cannot be blamed for seeking out better lives and looking for more secure health and better educational opportunities for their children.

Prasad says the skills loss is a major concern for employers and investors.

The Finance Ministry has lost nearly a quarter of its professional staff as well.

“That is one more reason why it is so important that we begin to tackle our big social challenges urgently. Some of them—like NCDs, domestic violence, and the growing issues of drug use—are generational and require all of us to get involved.”

Prasad says they continue to work on streamlining the processes in our regulatory agencies.

He adds that the work is challenging and time-consuming, and the government is burdened with regulatory processes that are decades old.

The Finance Minister says the government has its own skills shortages across the board, which are hampering the delivery of urgent public capital investment.