THE Fijian economy at this stage is in a very good position, says Defence Minister Pio Tikoduadua.
He made this remark at the annual general meeting of the National Federation Party’s Ra branch last Saturday.
“As I’ve said we (Coalition Government) came in during a very difficult time, taking over in the face of an economy that was very quickly declining,” Mr Tikoduadua said.
“And NFP as a party was assigned this role through our party leader, Professor Biman Prasad becoming the Minister of Finance.
“His job has been a very tough job; Prof Biman Prasad has not been without a lot of challenges.
“And that is because everyone would have loved to inherit something that is big, and of course he inherited our debt situation financially.”
Mr Tikoduadua said people had completely forgotten about the $10 billion debt inherited from the previous administration.
“So that is the extent of the burden that Prof Biman Prasad had to carry, over and above all the financial policies and the fiscal policies Government had to put together.
“To be able to keep the economy going, growing and I am glad to say the Fijian economy at this stage is in a very good position.
“I know many people say that it’s still otherwise but obviously this is something that Government still tries to do to make standards of living for people a little more bearable.
“But otherwise in the macro level, I am glad to say that Prof Biman Prasad, being the leader of the team and managing the economy, has been able to do that.
“And that goes a long way to speak also of our commitment in NFP.”
