“WE are in a worse situation than many of us think and I don’t see much being done by Government to moderate the cost of living,” says former Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) Governor Savenaca Narube.
Mr Narube participated yesterday in the Fiji Institute of Chartered Accountants (FICA) annual 2024 congress panel discussion with the theme ‘Where to From Here?’
He was joined by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad, Leader of Opposition Inia Seruiratu and former FICA president Jerome Kado.
He said the sooner the present economic situation was realised, the better it was for the economy.
“I made a few statements on that in the last few months asking that basic question because why? I’m confused. I’m confused as to where we’re going and the more and more of the developments that I see in the last few months, the more confused I get,” Mr Narube said.
“We need to know where we are economically. And also don’t forget social. Income disparity is widening. The rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. We know where we are. Honorable Minister of Finance (Professor Biman Prasad) referred to the cost of living. I don’t see much of what government is doing to moderate the cost of living.
“For me, I conclude from looking at social indicators and economic indicators (that) we are in a worse situation than many of us think and it’s tough. It’s tough and I think the sooner we realise that, realistically, the better we can plan for the future.”
Mr Narube said the nation needed an economic revolution to help address the many issues that we have.
“A lot of us know ‘what’, we talked about ‘what’ but how are you going to do it? That is a more interesting issue. Do we know, in a macro view, of where we are going? Do we have a vision that is clear to everyone? Let’s do it differently from how we have done it. We have failed badly in many of these issues. So let’s learn from it.
“On this one that I discuss with my colleagues, we need a revolution. Now, don’t get me wrong. This is an economic revolution. Transformation. You need to go to the heart of this problem.”
