Chaudhry: Figment of his imagination

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Former prime minister and Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry. Picture: JONACANI LALAKOBAU

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s claim that they have managed the economy better than any government in Fiji’s history is just a “figment of his imagination”, says Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

He said this in response to the Prime Minister’s comment at the Lau Provincial Council meeting on Wednesday.

“The Prime Minister forgets that even prior to the COVID crisis, his government had been forced to slash its 2019-20 budget by a massive billion dollars under pressure from international financial institutions,” he said.

“He was told that his government’s borrowings were unsustainable and that it must cut down on spending to reduce fiscal deficits.

“What better example can there be of the mismanagement of the economy than that?”

Mr Chaudhry said it had become apparent that the current government was surviving merely on excessive borrowings and in contrast, the Labour-led government had not been consumption-led.

“The Labour-led government in 1999 posted a 9.6 per cent growth in just one year in office and that came from the productive sectors of the economy.

“In the ’70s and ’80s the Mara government showed steady growth averaging at about 3 per cent per annum and again these were from the productive sectors of the economy.

“Mr Bainimarama also forgets that his own Sugar Ministry has shown a sharp 50 per cent decline in production ever since he took over the sugar portfolio.”

Mr Chaudhry claimed this had not occurred under any previous government and questioned whether it was a sound basis for running the economy.

“He should be reminded that his government has had to rely on funds from Australia and New Zealand for budget support in the past couple of years.”

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