Budget ‘favours the rich’
GOVERNMENT is borrowing more, and this would benefit the rich in the 2020-2021 National Budget, claims Unity Fiji party leader and former Reserve Bank of Fiji governor Savenaca Narube
Mr Narube said the Government had forgotten about the difficulties of ordinary Fijians who were struggling to make ends meet as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
He claimed that at a critical time when Fijians needed support, the Government was busy helping businesses.
MOST of the United Nations’ recommendations to Fiji, in terms of its response to COVID-19, are covered in the 2020-2021 National Budget.
This was the word from permanent secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister, Yogesh Karan.
He made the comment during a press conference at the United Nations Development Partners Forum in Suva yesterday.
“This is a follow-up on the report done by the UN on the socioeconomic impact assessment on Fiji,” he said.
“It is required of us and looked at all sectors.
“There were presentations by agencies and bilateral partners on the kinds of things they have done for us, what they have planned for us and what is coming forward.
“There has been a number of assistance –– direct funding and budgetary support already,” he added.
Mr Karan said while the recommendations were already covered in the 20202021 National Budget, the only challenge for Fiji would be implementation.
“In terms of the report and recommendations that have been made, most of it has already been reflected in the budget which was announced last week. The huge challenge now is –– with those ideas, suggestions and very strong recommendations made by the UN –– how Fiji will respond to that in terms of implementation.
“We have a very large social sector, more than 30 per cent of the budget is for that sector. It cuts across other areas of development we want to do, given this challenging times, we will need to look at the utilisation of resources we have very carefully, so that we are able to address these challenging situations that lie ahead of us.”