Nothing new or exciting in the budget that an ordinary person would be proud of – Lal

Former FijiFirst MP Virendra Lal has told Parliamentarians that he will remain as an independent Member of Parliament after the de-registration of the FijiFirst Party and has also called on the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad to stop fooling people.

While responding to the 2024-2025 budget address in Parliament, Lal says it lacks transparency and accountability and before the 2022 general elections, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad was talking about national debt, and this was one of the tactics he used to manipulate people’s emotions to sway votes his way to win the elections.

He says after forming the Government, the Finance Minister forgot about the high debt and started borrowing himself and claims the national debt has now increased to more than $10 billion.

The former FijiFirst MP says he is not against borrowing, but one needs to justify how the borrowed money is utilized.

He adds that if we invest in capital projects, we will be able to generate employment and create more economic activities.

Lal says there is nothing new or exciting in the budget that an ordinary person would be proud of and the budget does not offer any promise to our citizens instead asking them to pay a lot more for the same goods and services provided in the past.

However, the former FijiFirst MP acknowledged the coalition government for restoring the pension for the pensioners and resolving the infamous Vatukoula Mine Workers' strike.