WE WILL PUT MONEY IN PEOPLE’S HANDS
Statement by Savenaca Narube, leader of Unity Fiji and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji
“The increase in the cost of living is here to stay,” says Savenaca Narube, the leader of Unity Fiji and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
He explains, “The rise in the cost of living can be traced back to the supply bottlenecks of COVID 19. That was three years ago. Many experts predicted that prices would return to pre-crisis levels after the COVID. That has not happened.”
“The reason is that other global events continue to impose upward pressures on global prices. One of these factors is the global trade and tariff war which has not ended. The fuel crisis has added fuel to the fire. Fiji has no control on these global events,” says the former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
“It is therefore clear to me that the increases in import prices are here to stay, and they may even increase further. In Fiji, these higher prices have ingrained themselves into the local cost structure. That is why every local price has risen and may continue to do so.” “The burden that these higher prices impose on the families is enormous. It leads to many social problems that Fiji faces now.”
“Therefore, as a responsible government, Unity Fiji will look not only at the expenditure side of the coin but also on the income side,” stresses the leader of Unity Fiji.
“We have carefully designed measures on both sides of the ledger. While we have been advocating for some time a more equitable sharing of the cost-of-living burden by corporations, government and consumers and the active use of exchange rate as a policy instrument, we are also including measures to put more money in people’s hands.”
Narube concludes, “We will be announcing these measures when we launch our manifesto on Friday 18th in Sigatoka. The launch will be streamed live.”
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