Government should stop treating Fiji’s natural resources as “business-as-usual” and invest more heavily in them as part of efforts to diversify the economy.
Speaking at the “State of the Fijian Economy” dialogue earlier this week, Unity Fiji party leader Savenaca Narube said economic diversification should be a medium-term priority for Fiji.
He said one of the major issues facing families and communities was the lack of money, which continued to create wider social problems.
“That is causing a lot of issues. It has ramifications down the community, in school dropouts, in family breakdown and crime,” he said.
“We have come through 56 years since independence. What have we learned in that 56 years? We must learnt something from the past.
“If not, we will re-commit the mistakes of the past.”
He said while new industries were emerging, Fiji’s strongest opportunities for diversification were in areas the country already had, particularly its natural resources.
He claimed Fiji’s natural resource sectors had been declining over the past two decades.
“You look at all the graphs of natural resources. In the last 20 years, they’re going south. All of them.”
Mr Narube said this showed the need for a major shift in the way the country approached natural resources and economic planning.
“So that’s one of the things about focusing on natural resources. Stop repeating the mistakes of the past.
“And this is really not a business-as-usual kind of thing.”
He said Fiji needed transformation, not only in policy and investment, but also in people’s mindset.
“Nobody’s talking about that. But that is the major issue.”
