THE Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industries has called on Government to pay attention to Fiji’s continually worsening status on the ease of doing business in the country.
NCCI president Dr Ram Raju said Fiji was still ranked among the worst countries for foreign investors to set up a business.
“Fiji has to address the ease of doing business in the private sector,” he said. “Fiji is ranked 102 out of 190 countries by the latest World Bank rating.
“New Zealand is number one followed by Singapore and Hong Kong. Australia is at 14th position and Mauritius at 13 who have similar economies as Fiji but way ahead of us.
“It’s sincerely hoped that Government pays attention of the poor rating as we know of several overseas companies have found it extremely difficult to do business in Fiji and have departed from our country.”
Earlier this year, Minister for Trade and Investment Manoa Kamikamica explained in Parliament that doing business in Fiji was quite frustrating. He said Government was now focusing on improving this.
For this, he said, Government formed the Investment Facilitation Committee designed to facilitate and enhance innovative and high-value investments in the country.
“The committee oversees the issues that are arising from the investors that are coming into the country,” he said. “For that, we have already identified where the pain points are within the economy. So there is a focus on trying to fi x those pain points.”
