Fiji has been deprived of much-needed capital investment because a significant share of Government spending is committed to the social sector and maintaining the public service, says permanent secretary for Finance Shiri Gounder.
Speaking during a media conference last Friday, Mr Gounder said Government currently spends $2billion on education, health, social welfare, scholarships and other social programs.
“As a country, now we’re spending $2billion in the social sector, which is education, scholarships, health, social welfare, back to school…,” he said.
“One billion of that is salaries for teachers and doctors, but apart from that, $1billion is on these other things.”
Mr Gounder said social sector spending accounts for more than 40 per cent of the national budget, while another $2.3billion is spent to maintain the civil service and public sector operations.
“We are spending 40 per cent of the budget on the social sector, and we are spending $2.3billion to sustain the civil service and the public sector salaries and operations, which means, the country has been deprived of capital investments, which is building more roads, bridges, wastewater, drainage, waste management, and other infrastructure.”
He said the country needed to rethink how public funds were allocated if it wanted to boost economic growth and deliver lasting benefits.
“Moving forward as a country, we need a dialogue on how do we approach this mix of expenditure.
“Because if we want to spend more on capital, which is the focus for the future, if we have to grow the economy, and if we have to give long-term benefits to our people, we need to relook at this whole spending and reprioritise spending on social sector.
“Honourable Minister brought that clarity in Parliament today (Friday), and it’s something for all of us to think about.”
