As COVID-19 continues to affect countries around the world, Attorney General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the economy remains under prudent and responsible management and the government will not hesitate to make tough decisions with a view towards long-term economic prospects.
Sayed-Khaiyum says rest assured, the government will be leveraging every channel of growth at its disposal to keep the economy prosperous, keep Fijians employed, and keep businesses afloat, all while putting people’s wellbeing first.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the government has already allocated a number of unbudgeted expenditures to support our preparatory efforts, including ordering thermal scanners to install at our ports-of-entry.
He says Tourism and travel-related industries can be the hardest hit by a viral outbreak.
He says Fiji has built many strong economic partnerships around the region and the world.
Sayed-Khaiyum says if you look at a nation like the Maldives, which is largely dependent on Chinese and European markets, their tourism sector is taking a brutal beating, putting many of their people’s livelihoods in peril.
He adds luckily, Fiji is not overly-reliant on the Chinese market –– we have a responsible mix of tourism markets to hedge against isolated disruptions.
He says there’s still tremendous potential in our tourism markets in Australia and New Zealand – both of which do not have large-scale outbreaks of the virus.
He says to-date, Fiji Airways’ key routes to Australia, New Zealand and North America are seeing healthy numbers.
He says they will be actively exploring new measures of support for our tourism partners to take full advantage of these and other opportunities.
The Minister for Economy also says business leaders must recognise their role in economic resilience.
Sayed-Khaiyum says here at home, we cannot politicise this pandemic.
He adds we must remain objective without falling prey to sensationalism.
He says the Ministry of Economy will be accepting electronic submissions over e-mail on BudgetConsultation@economy.gov.fj
Sayed-Khaiyum will present a Supplementary Budget to parliament on Thursday, 26th March 2020 at 7.30pm.
The Supplementary Budget debate will take place from Monday, 6th April to Thursday, 9th April 2020.
The Parliamentary Business scheduled for 16th to 20th March 2020 has been deferred to the Parliament sitting scheduled for 27th April to 1st May 2020.
