Foreign exchange

Fiji

Fire-starters

arrested

In Fiji, 22 men have appeared in court charged with unlawful assembly and obstruction in connection with fires they lit to block access to one of the country’s top resorts. Their arrest on November 10 restored access to Shangri La’s Fijian Resort which has been deserted by tourists since the fires were lit a week ago.

The 22 men have been released on SUS 130 bail each with one of the conditions being they must not be seen within one kilometre of the resort causeway for any reason. Police are looking for 10 other men in connection with the case. The protestors have been demanding the removal of Adi Lady Lala Mara, wife of acting president Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, as sole trustee of a fund into which lease money for the hotels is paid.

Resort general manager Radike Qereqeretabua says he and his staff will travel widely in order to attract visitors back to the hotel. But he doesn’t expect business to be normal until January. ***

Rabuka's

budget

Fiji’s Finance Minister Colonel Paul Manueli announced the Rabuka government’s first budget in Parliament on November

6. The budget projects rev enues of SUS 436 million, giving a deficit of SUSB6 million.

Manueli announced the

introduction of a Capital

Gains Tax from 1994 but did not indicate how much it would be. He said the Fijian

Holding Company would be

given an interest free loan of SUSS.2 million to enable indigenous Fijians to buy

>hares in existing profitable

:ompanies. Government iunds allocated specifically

br indigenous Fijian education have been increased by another &USI.6 million to nearly SUS million.

He also announced additional funds to subsidise interest rates or commercial loans to indigenous Fijians. Import duties on :ars have been increased but decreased on food items, building naterials, textiles and clothing in line with the government’s ieregulation policies. Manueli said Fiji’s foreign reserves were idequate and stood at the equivalent of six months of imports.

Observers in Fiji say the budget is very much in line with the )olicies of the former interim administration. ***

Foreign exchange

controls relaxed

fhe Reserve Bank of Fiji has relaxed a range of foreign xchange controls as part of measures announced in the Fiscal 993 budget. Announcing the measures, Reserve Bank governor Ratu Jone Kubuabola said the relaxation was •rompted by the comfortable level of foreign reserves and signs f a gradual re-emergence of confidence in the economy.

Foreign Reserves stand at a record SUS 32 million, sufficient for about six months imports. The new measures allow all exporters to retain up to 10 per cent of their export proceeds offshore.

Commercial banks will be permitted to offer forward cover on foreign exchange up to six months to importers and exporters.

To control the high liquidity situation, the Reserve Bank has reduced its minimum lending rate to commercial banks by two per cent from eight to six per cent. It expects an appropriate reduction in lending rates to stir up economic activity.

Manueli: reserves adequate