Prof. Prasad stresses the impact of reducing duty on imported chicken products in Fiji

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad says the government needs to import more chickens from overseas because local chickens are so expensive.

While responding to FijiFirst MP, Sachida Nand on the impact of the reduction of duty from 15 percent to 0 percent on imported chicken portions on the local poultry industry, Professor Prasad says they recognised this and reduced the import excise duty on the chicken portions from 10 to zero percent and not the whole chicken.

He says despite the reduction from 10 to zero percent in the import excise duty, the duty of 32 percent still remains.

The Deputy Prime Minister says self-sufficiency and support for local industry must be balanced with the cost to our people.

Despite criticisms by the FijiFirst MPs that the impact from reduction is not being felt by people, the Minister for Finance says the poultry industry is one of the most heavily protected in Fiji and the good news is that almost everyone is self-sufficient.

He adds when the tariff is high or the item is imported, the cost for the consumers can be high as well and we need to ensure that the industry that is getting the tariff protection is at the same time able to reduce prices, improve quality and offer greater choice to consumers.