National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad says two motions tabled by Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in Parliament yesterday would push the country into “financial doldrums”.
“We all want tourists to come back, we all want our other sectors to grow, we all want our economy to bounce back but we have to be realistic,” Prof Prasad said.
“The government debt report released lately shows that we have a combined debt of about 97 per cent of GDP, if we take direct domestic and overseas borrowing as well as contingent liabilities into account.”
The NFP leader said Fiji was heading towards 100 per cent debt to GDP by the end of this financial year by adding the $186 million to contingent liabilities.
He said the motions which called for increased government guarantees totalling more than $186 million — $106.4 million to Fiji Airways and $80 million to the Fiji Development Bank — would place the country in a precarious situation and was not sustainable – based on empirical studies on Fiji’s debt sustainability.
