SODELPA MP Viliame Gavoka says the Reserve Bank of Fiji is saying that there is no liquidity problem for the last three months but the banks are still reluctant to bring down levy rates however Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum stresses that there is no liquidity problem and they have statistics to prove this.
Gavoka made the comment while speaking on NFP Leader Biman Prasad’s motion for Parliament to urgently appoint a special Parliamentary Committee to look into the banking, superannuation and financial services industry in Fiji and its impacts on consumers.
He says something is not right and this is why they need this Parliamentary Committee to look at how banks respond to announcements from the RBF that liquidity is healthy.
Gavoka went on to say the Fiji National Provident Fund has been a disappointment.
Gavoka says in the 70's, they signed up for this scheme, expecting to retire comfortably but the FijiFirst government came in and chopped everything that they built for a comfortable retirement.
He says FNPF has not performed and needs to be changed to go back to what it was meant for.
He claims the government is using FNPF as a piggy bank.
Another SODELPA MP Lynda Tabuya told parliamentarians that FNPF is currently restricted from investing overseas as the RBF restricts the outflow of money from the country.
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum stated that he is convinced that the SODELPA membership is only concerned about the wealthy members of the FNPF who lost out.
Sayed-Khaiyum says for the Opposition members to say that because of liquidity they should have some commission of inquiry is ludicrous.
He stressed that there is no liquidity problem and new bank loans by private companies has been over $2 million annually from the less than 0.5 million dollars a decade ago.
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