MINISTRIES should avoid being overly ambitious in their budget submissions as Fiji navigates global economic uncertainties and limited fiscal space, says Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources Filimoni Vosarogo.
Speaking on his ministry’s budget priorities, Mr Vosarogo said the Government needed to remain realistic about spending amid external pressures mainly caused by the global fuel crisis.
“To be honest, my ministry, and I would expect that other ministries of government should not be too ambitious about their budgets,” he said.
“We face great global headwinds that not only us in Fiji, but everybody, every other country in the world goes through.”
Mr Vosarogo said while fuel supplies remained secure, rising global prices continued to pose challenges for Fiji.
“With the fuel crisis, or with the crisis in the Middle East, we have two shocks – one is supply and the other is price.
“The supply shock is presently handled. We know that we will get supply. But the price shock is something that we can’t control because the price is controlled outside of Fiji.”
He said his ministry was focusing its funding requests on priority areas such as the borehole program and the Survey and Hydrology departments.
“We’re not asking for too much. Even if we get less than what we got last year, we’d be happy.
“But I guess what that means is that we have to work smarter with our budgets.
“We have to cut wasteful spending.”
