And Fiji budgets lor
p. 25 · Read in the full issue
a standstill — without an Opposition
From a Suva correspondent There was never a Budget day like Fiji’s was on November 27.
It was a standstill Budget with no taxation increases, a reduction in
various duties—and no Opposi
tion to argue about anything.
The entire Opposition of nine is still on strike following its walkout on September 1, the last sitting day of the last meeting of the Council.
The walkout was in protest against Fiji’s “undemocratic constitution.”
If members of the Opposition stay away from one more meeting their seats could be declared vacant.
The Minister for Finance, Mr.
Ritchie, brought in revaluation measures in the first 15 minutes of the session (see p. 20) and then went on to ask for £F 19,189,676 for the year—an increase of £426,483 on last year’s figure and a record Budget.
The recurrent expenditure is £14,764,059 (an increase of £626,896) and the capital budget is £4,425,617 (a decrease of £200,413).
Estimated deficit for 1967 will be only £460,000 instead of the £1.32 million allowed for, but the 1968 Budget deficit is estimated to be more than £500,000, leaving reserves of about £4.64 million by the end of 1968.
Mr. Ritchie said the capital fund would show a deficit to the extent of about £1.4 million at the end of the year because of Fiji’s inability so far to raise external loans.
On the bright side, higher revenues than expected had come from customs duty, port and customs ser vice tax, income tax and posts and telegraphs. The 1967 local loan was successful, yielding about £1,220,000 in new money, with a good percent age of conversion of maturing loans, and this was evidence of confidence in Fiji’s future.
Mr. Ritchie said that because of the expected slowing down in growth of Fiji’s economy it had not been easy to draw up the 1968 Budget. If expenditure had been contained at the revenue figures there would be no expansion of Government activities, so it had been decided to budget for a modest deficit and allow some expansion while containing the ex penditure as much as possible.