Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Prof. Biman Prasad, has emphasized the need for building more trust in the government concerning policy delivery and implementation. Prasad made these remarks during a post-budget consultation with the Nadi Chamber of Commerce.
Prof. Prasad highlighted that the coalition government’s commitment to serious reforms has facilitated the growth of the Fijian economy. “When we came into government last year, we made a conscious decision to undertake some serious reforms, and we did. Some were not very popular. It allows us to put the country back towards a path of successful economic growth,” he said.
Addressing businesses in Nadi after the National Budget announcement, Prasad noted that their tax reforms have enabled the government to raise over $600 million in revenue. “We were able to reduce the debt to GDP ratio to a double-digit deficit of the past of 4.8 percent. At the same time, we increased the expenditure to $4.3 billion to address the deficit and social infrastructure, education, skill development, and other social sectors, and we achieved that,” he added.
He further mentioned that the reduction of the deficit to 3.5 percent has supported their economic forecast, which stands at a positive 2.8 percent. However, this falls short of the previous budget projection of 3.4 percent.
“But we still feel that this is very positive growth after a significant COVID recovery in 2022 and last year. We are now moving toward what we call trend growth, and our debt to GDP ratio has been reduced,” Prasad stated.
Parliament is scheduled to convene next week to debate the provisions set out in the newly announced National Budget for 2024-2025.