FNPF is the leading player in our financial system - PM

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says FNPF has evolved over the years into one of the nation’s most important institutions.

While speaking at the 50th anniversary celebration of FNPF at GPH, Bainimarama says FNPF is the leading player in our financial system, has given our nation a crucial asset base and is a critical partner with Government as they set out to steadily transform Fiji from a developing country into a modern nation‑state.

The Prime Minister says FNPF is entering its second half century more secure than at any other time in its history as a dynamic, forward‑looking institution that mirrors Fiji’s economic fortunes as a whole.

He says only a few years ago, they became aware of the wake‑up call that had not been heeded by previous governments and FNPF boards, a wake‑up call he will not forget.

He says the FNPF was on a steady course to ruin due to mismanagement and lack of foresight and vision under the supervision of previous governments and FNPF Boards.

Bainimarama says they were told that FNPF would run out of funds altogether within 40 years, that by 2056, those entering the workforce now would have nothing to show for the contributions they had made into the fund.

He says it was a crisis that he determined required radical intervention to reform the Fund and place it on a proper footing and that is what they did by installing a new board in 2011 which embarking on a series of reforms that turned the FNPF around.      

Bainimarama says although the reform process was painful, it benefitted the Fund and stopped the rot.