FIJI BUREAU of Statistics CEO Kemueli Naiqama says the Household Income and Expenditure survey report has not been taken seriously in resolving poverty, with the country’s poverty rate standing at 29.9 per cent.
He told the Pacific Regional Tripartite Conference in Nadi yesterday the survey was released “way back in 2019 to 2020, where Fiji’s poverty rate was 29.9 per cent until today”.
“I am sorry to say, none has taken it seriously with resolving poverty in this country,” Mr Naiqama said.
In an interview with this newspaper, he said the HIES report of 2019 to 2020 was not fully utilised.
“What I meant is that none in terms of seriously taking the report, but the Government has done its part.
“If you look at social welfare, grants have increased and other interventions from the Government have provided the necessary budget to address poverty. It has increased allocations with senior citizens, food vouchers have also increased, but when I say others, it means those outside the Government.
“From the statistics office, we feel that the report is not fully utilised.”
Mr Naiqama said data-sharing had affected their work previously.
“For us to get data from a certain ministry, we have to write minutes, and we have to follow a certain path in order to extract data, but previously data was a matter of a phone call, and it can just be passed through email.
“I am glad that in July 2024, the Prime Minister’s Office had written a memo to all line ministries stating that the use of MOU and MOA should cease and we should continue with the normal data sharing.”