National Budget another patch up job to appeal to voters in this upcoming election – Rabuka

People’s Alliance Leader Sitiveni Rabuka has labelled the 2022-2023 National Budget as just another patch up job to appeal to voters in this upcoming election.

Rabuka says the budget was clearly an election budget, containing freebies that for many struggling families in the country today will mean Father Christmas has turned up early.

The former Prime Minister says the reality however will set in the day after Christmas, when the tap to all these freebies will run dry, and then everybody will have to buckle up and be ready for some very tough, austerity measures.

Rabuka adds he had hoped that the Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum would show some responsibility and lay it bare with the people, we have gone through some very tough economic times, we are not out of the woods yet, so bear with us.

Rabuka further says instead it seems Sayed-Khaiyum has decided to go loose on a spending spree for the next six months, worrying the least about what happens afterwards.

He also says Sayed-Khaiyum’s insistence that the Bula Boom is back, with tourism expected to rake in more than $1.3 billion in earnings this year, only tells us that government has not learnt its lessons.

Rabuka adds government continues to largely depend on tourism.

Rabuka highlighted that if the Bula Boom was back, why wasn't the Fiji National Provident Fund contributions reinstated.