[File Photo]

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says he is fully aware that some sections of the population continue to raise concerns about the dilapidated state of our key infrastructure.

Rabuka says they are saying that the coalition government is not doing enough to address this issue.

Upon highlighting this, Rabuka attributed the delays to national debt.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka

He says the status of Fiji’s debt is a major challenge to funding urgently needed expenditures.

“We have to honour our debt commitment first before we consider other public expenditures. As of today, our national debt is around $10.3 billion, which is 80% of our gross domestic product (GDP). As a “rule of thumb” for a small country like Fiji, our debt ratio should be around 40 to 45% of GDP. The current ratio of 80% of GDP is not acceptable and unsustainable.”

Rabuka says the government has to bite the bullet and make necessary adjustments so that we can meet our debt obligations.

He says the $1.05 billion allocation for debt servicing will cover interest payments of $500 million, and the balance of $500 million is for refinancing our existing debt.

He says that this implies that our capacity to finance other urgent expenditures is very limited.