THE Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry is hoping that government will provide a fuel crisis relief fund when the National Budget 2026/2027 is announced on June 26.
In an interview, Chamber president Lawrence Kumar said they had also raised this relief assistance during its presentation to the Minister of Finance, Esrom Immanuel.
“We are looking forward to the budget announcement on the 26th of this month,” Mr Kumar said.
“The Chamber obviously has done its own presentation in terms of the budget and obviously we are looking at a relief to be provided.”
Mr Kumar said the increase in fuel prices was a major factor affecting the operations of businesses in the Nadi area.
“If you look at the fuel benchmark, the diesel rate in March was $2.14 cents, currently it is $4.58 cents, and it has increased by 114 per cent.
“What are we really doing and what sort of relief are we providing to the business houses and to the citizens of Fiji?
“So that is what we are looking at in this current budget and with that, we are looking at measures and some sort of policies that needs to be in place to ensure that we are promoting businesses and we are business friendly.”
