NADI Chamber of Commerce & Industry president says Lawrence Kumar says businesses in the country will be affected with the hike in fuel prices amidst the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Kumar described the situation as a “worrying trend”.
“Any country would have to sort of plan for this current conflict,” he said.
“Even though the Minister of Finance has said that we have stock on hand in terms of fuel for the month or so, but when is the next supply coming in?
“And what is the effect of the next supply, the cost of the next supply could be greater than what we are receiving right now.
“So, in actual fact the fuel price is bound to increase,”
Mr Kumar referred to recent reports from Australian media saying service stations have been running out of fuel.
“And a lot of their service stations are closing, and they do not even know when their fuel would be supplied by the main supplier,” he added.
“So, this something that Fiji, even though we are a small nation – we will need to be mindful that this could be subjected upon us.
“Is our mitigation plan that the supply that we currently have in the country will sustain us for next one month or two months, what is the plan after that and when is the next supply coming to Fiji?
Mr Kumar urged government and stakeholders to plan ahead, as the global fuel crisis will likely affect business operations in Fiji.
“The cost of goods would obviously increase if there were going to be a change in fuel price.
“No business is going to sustain and absorb the cost if there is a huge change in fuel price. Obviously, it’s going to be passed on to the consumer.”
