By Shayal Devi in Suva
Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has already started work to achieve the People’s Alliance-led coalition 100-day plan outlined in its manifesto.
He recognises that things such as cost of living, water and electricity outages are existing issues that can be solved after a thorough review and consultative process.
In its manifesto, the party had stated it would consult on price control on basic and zero-rated VAT food items.
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During an interview with The Fiji Times, he also voiced plans to grow the economy to a level whereby the revenue and expenditure could “harmonise continuously”.
“We cannot immediately effect reductions because the revenue forecast has been done in the last budget,” he said.
“At the moment, we do not see any signs of any sudden increase in our revenue so we do not want to suddenly increase some of the expenditures and we’ll probably run out this budget according to the forecast, and then bring in those measures that we would like to achieve [with] the budget target for the full budget year.
“But that’ll be after the 100 days. Those that can be done within the 100 days, we’ll have to do.”
Rabuka said he had already met with the permanent secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office and expected an informal Cabinet sitting on Thursday where they would be briefed on the country’s economic situation.
Shayal Devi is a Fiji Times journalist. Republished with permission.
