The Party’S Over

Trade Winds

- Tighten Your

Belt Says Mara

A tough November budget

seems likely in Fiji. Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara has warned that slow growth in government revenue

will certainly mean tighter

government spending and perhaps increased taxation.

Ratu Sir Kamisese said that in the years since indepen dence the government had been very gentle on the tax ation front. However, in the past four or five years during which Fiji had gone through a difficult time, direct taxes had grown at a slower than antici

pated rate, job opportunities

were less and private invest ment had fallen.

To counter these trends, the government, since 1974, had

deliberately expanded its

investment programme to fill

the gaps left by private invest ment, said Ratu Sir Kamisese.

This policy had enabled Fiji to weather the economic storm with little discomfort.

Large sums had been invested in rural development.

Good progress had been achieved in some areas of agriculture and sugar, and pine forests had become a large

industry. Expansion was

planned for the fishing indus try. Other large government projects included the Suva- Nadi highway and the Nadrau

hydro-electricity project. This

kind of government investment had helped counter the drop in the private sector labour mar ket.

An area in which Ratu Sir Kamisese would like to see more development is rice

growing. It was important, he said as he has so often done in the past for Fiji to increase local food output and cut back on imports. Fiji had the climate and resources to grow most of its own food, he said.

What Fiji needed, said Ratu Sir Kamisese, was “reawaken ing because toil, goodwill, hard work and perseverance are essential ingredients of nation

building”.

A day or two later came another warning to expect some belt-tightening. The Finance Minister, Mr Charles Stinson, said there would have to be a “breathing space” in the government’s social service budgets for the next two years.

Government departments

would have to contribute to moves to tighten expenditure and the people would have to decide how much they were prepared to contribute toward the services they demanded, said Mr Stinson.

Fiji, he said, was “extremely well-off’ by world standards but greater productivity was needed for the country to hold its ground.