Page 13 - IB August 2020

Fiji Fiji

Small kindness, big impact
“My perception is that people are confused. People are wor-
ried about the future. A small step like what we’ve done is going
to give them some hope, to take a bit of worry out of them. To
show them that there are people who still care, and will continue
to care. Sangam is all about that.”- Damend Gounder, Secretary
General of Then India Sanmarga Ikya Sangam (TISI), which
organises free lunches three days a week for all 25 TISI primary
and secondary schools in Fiji’s two main islands of Viti Levu and
Vanua Levu.
He estimates that just between Lautoka city and Nadi town,
48% of children attending TISI-managed schools have been
directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with either one
parent or both parents losing their job.
Their free lunch programme was initially planned to last for
six weeks at a cost of $150,000. Gounder himself is managing
director of Tours Fiji, which was among hundreds of busi-
nesses that have ground to a halt during the COVID-19 inflicted
lockdown.

Damend Gounder, Secretary General Then India Sanmarga Ikya Sangam (TISI)

the report states. leader of Unity Fiji Party which released its alternative bud-
Although the UN report pushes for an aggressive income- get, a few weeks before the Fijian Government handed down
supporting intervention to assist affected workers, Fiji’s min- its economic plan.
ister for economy and attorney general Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum National Federation Party leader in parliament, Professor
opted to offer huge tax concessions for businesses, especially Biman Prasad said using workers’ savings to offer relief proved
those in the tourism sector get back onto their feet quickly, in that the Fijian Government has run out of money.
the government’s 2020-21 budget. “The government is telling the people who have been made
Direct income support for the jobless and their families was unemployed: ‘We will give you $220 per fortnight.’ But this is
left to the workers’ pension fund, the Fiji National Provided not the government’s money. This is the people’s money. This
Fund (FNPF) is what is in their FNPF balances.
By mid-August, a total of 113,000 FNPF members had been “Government is topping up some people’s balances. But
assisted through this scheme, and some F$87 million (US$40 with whose money?
million) paid out. “The World Bank’s money. And the IMF’s money. And the
The Fund expects this number to rise to around 159,000 Asian Development Bank’s money.
workers when new payout schemes are rolled out, includ- “Because our own Government has no money.”
ing draw down for those who have been unemployed since The Fiji budget projects a net deficit of F$2billion
October 2017. (US$940million) or 20.2% of Gross Domestic Product, and a
In late August, the FNPF’s chief executive officer Jaoji debt to GDP ratio of 83.4%. Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed
Koroi assured members that with an asset portfolio totaling Khaiyum says this debt is critical to recovery as “borrowing
F$7 billion (US$3.28 billion) and cash deposits of $500 million now to build for tomorrow means future generations can bor-
(US$234 million), the Fund has the capacity to pay its finan- row less.”
cial obligations. Fiji economist Neelesh Goundar is concerned however, tell-
However, allowing pension withdrawal for members who ing journalists recently, “I don’t see how Fiji will be able to
have lost work since the pandemic caused countries to close pay off its debt in the future unless there is debt cancelling.”
their borders in March and April has been controversial, draw- “The only thing that I see is that unemployment is going to
ing criticisms from opposition politicians and workers’ unions. increase, there’s more economic suffering that households are
“Those that have lost their incomes only saw more deple- going to face and I don’t want to predict the social conse-
tion of their retirement funds. The unemployed did not see quences of the economic impact that is likely to come.”
any help for them. The self-employed who are not members
of the FNPF now realise that they have to fend for them- Additional reporting by Samantha Magick
selves. This is tragic,” Savenaca Narube said. publisher@islandsbusiness.com
He is a former governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji and now

Islands Business, August 2020 13