Fijians spending priorities ‘skewed’

BEER, cigarettes and ‘yaqona’ are top on the list of items that Fijians spend most money on, according to details of the Household and Income Expenditure Survey (HIES) conducted by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (FBoS) in 2019/2020.

FBoS publicly released the survey results when it announced the completion early this year of its re-weighting of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to the 2019 base year, which will see Fiji’s inflation data now based on the 2019 HIES instead of the 2014 survey.

“There is substantial increase in the weight of Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco & Narcotics,” FBoS stated, when comparing spending habits in 2014 with the more recent 2019/2020 survey.

“This increase is largely driven by large expenditures on beer, cigarettes and yaqona.”

The trend has been described as “disturbing”, as weights of ‘Food and non-alcoholic beverages’ decreased by 35.1 in the new 2019/2020 CPI compared to 2014 while weights of ‘Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics’ increased by 52.4.

“To me, it is disturbing that our spending priorities are skewed,” former Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) Governor Savenaca Narube told the Fiji Times.

“In these tough times, I would expect families to be watching their spending wisely, they are increasing their spending on not only discretionary items but on those that are not good for health.”

“Cigarettes are ranked third in the weights just behind tertiary education and rent.

“Pounded kava is ranked fifth.

“The highest-ranking food item is cassava at sixth.

“Fiji Gold beer is fifteenth and Fiji Bitter was not far behind at nineteenth. “Even rum has made the top 30.

“The food items are way down the list.” Mr Narube said how one spends their money monies was an individual choice “but this ranking must ring a warning bell to our community leaders.”

“In my view, we must reverse this pattern of spending,”Mr Narube said.

FBoS HIES survey also showed an increase in communication expenditure, particularly expenditures of mobile phones and the use of wireless telecommunication services.

Along with this was an increase in recreation and culture, driven by increases in expenditure for household holiday, or vacation abroad.

Picture: FILE Shoppers shops for fruits and vegetables at the Suva Municipal Market. Fijians are spending less on food and more on alcohol and cigarettes, a survey by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics has found.