COVID-19 Response Budget passed

THE $1billion COVID-19 Response Budget was passed by Parliament yesterday allowing Fijians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country to access financial assistance from their Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) accounts.

Economy Minister Aiyaz SayedKhaiyum said affected Fijians eligible for FNPF assistance “can only withdraw from the general account if they have eligibility”.

He said there had been statements by Opposition MPs that Government was dipping into FNPF again.

He said by saying so, the Opposition was either deliberately misleading the Fijian people or just did not understand it at all.

“The members can only withdraw from the general account if they have eligibility,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“Their funds in the preserved account will be preserved together with what they have in the general account after their withdrawal.

“As we said all along, the reality of the matter is they cannot touch the preserved account component.

“The preserved accounts have actually been demarcated from the general account so again this is misleading the people of Fiji.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum also said a supermarket recently contacted him offering employment for 200 Fijians who had been made redundant from the tourism sector.

“One of the supermarkets got in touch with us and said because of the fact that a lot of people are now coming to the supermarkets I need 200 people.

“Can you give me 200 people from the tourism sector that can come in and help us restock our shelves. This is the kind of collaboration that has been taking place behind the scenes.”