Difficult choices ahead but we want people to be able to prepare and to plan ahead – Prof. Prasad

The very basic services which we all depend on are now at risk, we cannot afford to wait, we must act now and find the money now and invest it.

This has been highlighted by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad while delivering his ministerial statement in parliament where he says nothing the Government provides us is free and if the government is going to give money back to people by cutting taxes, in the end, it is government services which will suffer.

Professor Prasad says they can see the difficult choices ahead and these choices will not be popular but they want people to be able to prepare and to plan ahead.

Professor Prasad says he remain deeply concerned about the state of Government debt which currently stands at 85 percent of Gross Domestic Product, well above the safe level of between 40 and 50 percent.

He stresses that in the new post-COVID world, Fiji cannot expect to simply borrow money at will.

Professor Prasad says almost one in every five dollars of revenue that government collects is now paid as interest to the lenders.

He says for the last 10 years we have been living in a debt-driven economic fantasy land.

He further says about half of the water that Water Authority of Fiji carefully treats and prepares leaks through old pipes and into the ground.

Professor Prasad says in the next five years, Fiji needs to spend $800 million on the water systems to keep them going.

He says none of the Water Authority’s 38 sewerage treatment plants are up to the required standards for the safe discharge of waste water which means threats to the environment and the health of people who depend on rivers and streams close to populated areas.

The Deputy Prime Minister says the cost to bring these up to standard will be around $200 million but reaching the Sustainable Development Goals for public sanitation will cost billions more.

He further says 100 bridges will need to be replaced in the next decade and more than 10 of these bridges are already at the point of critical failure where the cost for bridges alone in the next 10 years will exceed $2 billion.

Professor Prasad says CWM Hospital is no longer fit for purpose and it needs to be completely renewed, an investment that will probably exceed $500 million while the Lautoka and Ba Hospital public-private partnership between FNPF and Aspen Medical will also involve costs of about $300 million.

He says under the public-private partnership the government will be paying up to $30 million in new spending every year.

Professor Prasad the FijiFirst government made many poor public investment choices where they built costly rural hospitals, remote roads and multi-million-dollar police stations, seemingly without any cost benefit analysis but they barely had enough money to equip or maintain them.

The Deputy Prime Minister says FBC got more than $90 million over 10 years and Walesi over $60 million, millions have been spent on lease costs for new government vehicles, 8,000 more public servants have been added to the government payroll resulting in rising costs and salary bills but no sound and sensible solutions to increase income.

He says the government paid international film producers over $200 million so far in the last 10 years and they must now find another $200 million to pay the rest.

Professor Prasad says if this isn’t wastage, pilferage and mismanagement of funds, then what is?

Professor Prasad says Fiji now is burdened by serious Government debt, they do not have the money to spend but somehow, they have to find it.

He further says it is important for the new government to begin to “open the books” on government finances for all Fiji citizens to see.

Professor Prasad says only when everyone has all the information can they understand the urgency of the situation and work together on solutions.

He adds they need to bring people together to develop the solutions and government cannot do this alone.