The 2025-26 National Budget delivers a direct boost to household incomes and living standards, says Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Prof Biman Prasad.
In an interview on The Lens@177, Prof Prasad said the Coalition Government’s third budget continues “a total of $800 million going directly to cushion the impact of any cost-of-living pressures on our people”.
These measures include minimum wage increasing from $4 in 2023 to $5 in April 2025, a 5 per cent increase in social welfare allowances, and an additional 10 per cent reduction in bus fares.
Farmers also benefit from guaranteed prices and subsidies for key crops.
Prof Prasad said the approach combined higher incomes with targeted subsidies.
“We believe that increasing social welfare, continuing with subsidies, increasing prices for agriculture… providing all the support to the people was part and parcel of the first budget.”
He insisted critics “ignore and lie about the cost-of-living pressure,” pointing to Reserve Bank statistics showing seven consecutive months of falling or negative inflation.
“The effect of duty reduction, the effect of VAT reduction, is being passed on to the people,” he said.
The Acting Prime Minister added that a task force made up of the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission, FRCS and the Finance Ministry monitors prices to ensure benefits reach households.
He said two-and-a-half years of fiscal reforms, wage rises, and social spending now amount to “a success story for any government” in balancing economic recovery with relief for ordinary Fijians.
