Former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum claims the Government ignored warnings about a possible fuel price increase and supply shortage linked to tensions in the Middle East.
Writing on LinkedIn, Sayed-Khaiyum said concerns about a looming fuel crisis had already been raised on October 26, 2024, when global instability was beginning to intensify.
“Within this context we had highlighted that when developing budgets and economic policies those in charge of the economy need to be also acutely cognisant of global dynamics,” he said.
Sayed-Khaiyum said the Government should have prepared contingency measures to cushion the impact of the current fuel situation.
“The Government could have then put in place a whole raft of contingencies which would have not only mitigated directly against the fuel crisis, buffering our low income and vulnerable Fijians but overall put in place policies to have a robust and resilient economy,” he stated.
He claimed the advice was ignored despite being made in the interest of Fiji’s broader economic wellbeing.
“Unfortunately this advice given 19 months ago, like a number of other observations and suggestions, purely in the interest of the economic wellbeing of Fiji and all its citizens especially those on the lower end of the socio-economic scale and the growing poor went unheeded,” Sayed-Khaiyum said.
The former Attorney-General stressed his comments were not intended as political point scoring.
“These observations and suggestions then and its highlighting now were and are not about ‘We told you so’ or political point scoring or one upmanship,” he said.
“It is about reminding the government that it should recalibrate and correct its economic and social policy mistakes.”
Sayed-Khaiyum also criticised what he described as “regressive and disastrous economic policies” during the tenure of former Finance Minister Biman Prasad, saying corrective measures should have been introduced after Prasad’s departure from Cabinet.
“A mini budget could have been easily and quickly put in place after Biman Prasad’s departure,” he said.
“There was no need to change the financial year, as it appears to be mistakenly believed by some in the government, to deliver a mini budget.”
