Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says they are increasing the national minimum wage rate in 4 stages because they are considerate and do not want people to lose their jobs.
He highlighted this when asked by Government MP Sanjay Kirpal to update Parliament on the measures adopted by the government to ease inflationary pressures emanating from rising international food and fuel prices.
Sayed-Khaiyum says they are increasing the minimum wage rate responsibly and it is not a political stunt.
The Attorney General also says some politicians wanted them to review the minimum wage rate in 2020 but it would have been silly to suggest government should have reviewed the wage rate when over 100,000 Fijians lost their jobs.
SODELPA Leader Viliame Gavoka then said the government seems to be sleeping on the job and they need to reveal their plans in case things start to get worse.
Gavoka says if the price of a litre of fuel goes up to as much as $10, it will cripple this country and questioned if government is planning for something like this.
Sayed-Khaiyum says they have shown through their policies that they are in a flexible position to meet the inflationary impact.
He says they cannot look into the future and say what is going to happen.
Sayed-Khaiyum says this is a sign of a good government.
