Priority is: No one starves

‘Altogether we paid $430million in the past two years in unemployment benefits’

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Government’s top priority was to ensure no Fijian was left to starve.

The statement was made by the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, during the Financial Year 2022-2023 National Budget Consultations at the Sugar Cane Growers Council Hall in Lautoka yesterday.

The A-G told those present that Government had lost $4billion in foreign exchange, and Government’s tax collection declined by 50 per cent.

He said with this, about 110,000 Fijians also lost their jobs during the pandemic.

“You have to do anything to ensure that nobody in Fiji starves. That is why we had the first round of $90, two rounds of $50 and two rounds of $360. We also had those people working in the formal sector who could take out money from their general account then Government paid $225 a fortnight through their FNPF accounts.

“Altogether we paid $430million in the past two years in unemployment benefits.”

“Forget the other assistance, the food packs, the free visits to the private GP (general practitioner), market vendors fees which we paid for the whole year, if you’re a taxi driver, your licence was expiring, you got to go for a renewal, we paid $500million towards that,” he said.

He also reiterated that the Fijian economy grew for nine years straight.

“If you see the Fijian economy, it has been growing for the past nine years, we’ve never had that in Fijian history, we’ve only had it for about seven years post-independence never for nine years,” the A-G said.

“As a result, a lot more people could get work, access more funds, we see a lot more cars on the road. Those things indicate that the economy is growing.”