Draunidalo Slams Opposition Parties’ Ineffectiveness
After four years of negative growth GDP rose by an average of 5.3 per cent from 1984 to 1986. The prospects for 1987 seemed favourable. Tupou Draunidalo Leader of HOPE
Leader of HOPE, Tupou Draunidalo, has questioned the effectiveness of the Opposition Parties, reiterating that those who sit on the Opposition benches have contributed greatly to Fiji’s economic downturn.
She said: “Since the useless Opposition, their more useless chiefs and proxies like to talk about Fiji’s economic trajectory and their great qualifications, degrees and positions held to deal with it all.. let us go back in time to show their hands in it and how it all began.
“Now and again, we will set out their “solutions” and how those worked out well (NOT) in the long term. Don’t worry, these history lessons will go through the years up until today so that we are all on the same page about who did what and who was PM, Minister for Finance, Permanent Secretary for Finance and Governor of the Reserve Bank at the time.
“Knowledge is power, here goes..
“At the beginning of 1987 Fiji was a moderately prosperous Pacific country. Its per capita income of $2000 placed it on a par with Portugal, Yugoslavia, Malaysia and Mexico, that is, among upper middle income countries. Apart from phosphate rich Nauru it had the highest income among independent South Pacific countries by a considerable margin.
“After four years of negative growth GDP rose by an average of 5.3 per cent from 1984 to 1986. The prospects for 1987 seemed favourable. The theme of the 15th Conference of the Fiji Institute of Accountants - the annual meeting of professionals in economics and accounting in business and the public sector- held early in February was ‘Towards Economic Upturn - Identifying the Opportunities’.
“The military coup of 14 May 1987 dramatically changed Fiji’s prospects. Confidence eroded. Consumers and businesses became very cautious. Investment plans were suspended. Foreign firms began to repatriate profits instead of investing in expansion. There was an immediate flight of ‘human capital’. “Not only ethnic Indians, but ethnic Fijians also left key positions in business and government to emigrate. Financial capital flight followed. By August it was thought that the situation was easing, but a second coup on 25 September 1987 worsened the economic environment. Shortly thereafter Fiji became a Republic and left the Commonwealth. Despite the establishment of an Interim Government to prepare a new constitution and restore normality, the economy continued to decline.”
“We will have an instalment every day.”