FLP leader blames State for high cost of living

FORMER prime minister and Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry says the Coalition Government has not met its election promise to provide relief by bringing down the cost of living.

He said on the contrary, taxation measures adopted by the Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad had made matters worse for the ordinary families in the country.

Mr Chaudhry said Prof Prasad’s claim that the inflation rate in January was down to 3.7 per cent, rings hollow to the general shopper for whom the price of goods on the supermarket shelf, and almost everywhere else, continued to rise.

“There is no real correlation between the inflation figures stated by Government and the increasingly high cost of living the ordinary family is struggling with,” said Mr Chaudhry.

“Whatever the inflation rate, four per cent or 13 per cent as claimed by an independent economist, the point is that the already high cost of living has soared sharply with the increase in VAT to 15 per cent and higher duties imposed on imported food products and other items in Budget 2023/2024.”

He said the Finance Minister fooled no one with his lower figures.

“Independent economists have told us that government’s inflation figures are misleading because the Consumer Price Index is based on the basket of goods and services constructed in 2008, that is some 16 years ago — prices and people’s buying habits have changed considerably since then.

“To retain his credibility Minister Biman needs to move urgently to reset the components and weights of the CPI so that it provides a more realistic picture of what’s happening on the ground.”

Mr Chaudhry said the Government had also not fulfilled its promise to raise the minimum wage rate.

“It is now 15 months since it took office, there has been no real effort to tackling this issue.

“Yet the self-serving ministers have been quick to secretly raise their own parliamentary pays by $10,000 a year.

“The high cost of living is hurting the economy because consumption is down.

“People are spending on essentials; businesses are complaining that sales are down, by as much as 30 per cent in some cases.

“Trying to paint a rosy picture fools no one.

“There is a general downturn. This is reflected in Government revenue collection.”