The Permanent Secretary for iTaukei Affairs Pita Tagicakirewa has clarified that 75% of people living in extreme poverty are iTaukei.
He says there was a misconception when the statistics was released by the Bureau of Statistics but the reality is that most of the iTaukei are living in extreme poverty.
Tagicakirewa says according to the Bureau of Statistics, about 238,000 people in Fiji are living in extreme poverty and about 193,000 of that is iTaukei.
He adds people living in extreme poverty are those who are dependent on US$1.25 a day.
The Permanent Secretary says the outcome of last year's resource owner's forum has been taken to Cabinet and endorsed under the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs in coordination with other iTaukei institutions through their solesolevaki framework and also in coordination with other Ministries.
He says they are working on implementing the outcome of last year's forum and it will not be an overnight thing because some of the outcomes deals with legislation changes and its going through all the ministries processes.
