Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji Savenaca Narube has labelled the growth reset package announced by the Government earlier this week as the “same old economic approach”, and argued the economy needed to “transform, not reset”.
“The country has been waiting for a clear economic and financial roadmap from the Coalition Government since the start of the year. I am glad that we are now hearing of what I consider to be a small piece of that roadmap,” Mr Narube said.
“But tragically, in my view, it is the same old, same old economic approach. These types of actions are nothing new. They will benefit those who are already well off. The previous government introduced many such actions.”
Cabinet approved the growth reset package saying it will build on work already done by the Fiscal Review Committee through the National Economic Summit and the work done by the Investment Facilitation Committee established by Cabinet earlier this year to examine business processes.
Under the reset package, reforms will be carried out in the immigration and work permit process, investment in land, buildings, and infrastructure, foreign investment regulation, and in the electricity and energy sector.
Mr Narube said it was clear that the targeted groups were investors and businesses, and while they were important cogs in the economic value chain, what Fiji needed was a complete transformation.
“In my view, we must shake the very foundation of our economy. We must transform and not simply reset. Reset is not enough. It simply means that we are going back to an old status when we should be transforming the platform of economic growth to a new level.
“I have stressed many times that the transformation will only come by growing our resource-based sectors and the micro, small, and medium businesses. The secret of our economic success is in these two sectors. I urge this Government to show us a plan on how this can be achieved.”
He said resource owners were one of the poorest in the country and were getting poorer.
“The MSMEs supports many families in Fiji. The disparity in income and wealth in this country has seriously widened in the last 10 years.
“The cost of living is seriously hurting families. I am calling on this government to quickly show us what it has to narrow the income gap, reduce poverty, and put our economy on a stronger foundation. Let us transform and not simply reset,” Mr Narube said.
