FijiFirst General-Secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has pleaded with young Fijians not to be duped by analysis provided by opposition parties on the cost of living in Fiji.

He says some are claiming that price of flour and other basic food items have increased because of this government.

Thus, he states that the government has been clarifying this issue to members of the public and that flour price is determined by global wheat prices and this also applies to the costs of other groceries and items.

“Not taking into account the fact that the cost of freight has in some countries gone up by 600-800 percent. In Fiji, is going up by 200- 300 percent, a container from New Zealand is of course five and a half thousand dollars from Auckland to Suva now it’s about $15,000.Did they address that? No. Did they tell the members of the public that? No. We today as you address the cost of living issue. We explain to them why it’s gone up, we’ve said to them it may continue to go up. We’ve also said it may come down depending on the global circumstances, it’s beyond our control.”

Sayed-Khaiyum says the government can only regulate price control on certain items once it lands in Fiji.

He adds that opposition parties are not honest about their analysis.

The FijiFirst GS also highlighted that opposition parties have also created a culture he described as personalized politics.