Independent Member of Parliament Premila Kumar has slammed the Government’s celebration of a -0.9 per cent drop in inflation for April 2025. She called the announcement “out of touch” with the harsh realities faced by ordinary Fijian families. While the figure marks the lowest inflation rate as per the World Bank’s April 2025 Macro Poverty Outlook since May 2021, Ms Kumar argues it means little to those still grappling with rising living costs. “The recent announcement that Fiji recorded a -0.9 per cent inflation rate in April 2025, the lowest since May 2021, may be statistically significant, but it does not reflect the day-to-day reality for thousands of Fijian families still struggling to make ends meet,” Ms Kumar said. “While Government has rushed to take credit for this inflation drop, it must be honest with the public that this decline is largely due to external global factors, such as falling international fuel prices and improved global supply chains, which are outside Fiji’s control. And the drop in inflation is not as a result of government policy,” she said. She stressed that declining inflation does not mean prices are falling, only that they were rising at a slower pace. “It simply means the rate at which prices are increasing has slowed down, or in some cases, plateaued,” she added. High cost of living She pointed out that many families were still burdened by high food prices, rent, transport fares, and medical costs with little visible improvement in their day-to-day lives. “The decline in inflation offers little real relief to families still burdened by high food costs, unaffordable rent, high transport fares, and a public health system where Fijians are often forced to pay out-of-pocket for basic medicines and essential supplies.” She also criticised Government’s VAT hike and austerity measures, saying they’ve exacerbated the cost-of-living crisis. “Despite Finance Minister Honourable Biman Prasad’s claims about ‘targeted interventions,’ the reality is that many of the cost-of-living pressures were caused by this Government’s own policies, particularly the increase of VAT to 15 per cent on hundreds of basic goods and services.” While she welcomed the zero VAT on 22 basic items, she described it as insufficient to offset the broader impact on low-income families. What write-off? She questioned the sustainability of recent headline initiatives, such as the $650 million debt write-off, especially when over 19,000 students are studying privately due to limited access to government loan schemes. “The Finance Minister’s much- publicised $650 million debt write-off may sound generous on paper, but it raises an important question: Who is paying for this? And how is this sustainable when more than 19,000 students are currently studying privately because they do not have access to a student loan scheme?” Ms Kumar ended her statement with a call for long-term solutions over political optics. “The Finance Minister needs to accept a basic fact that real relief for Fijians won’t come from selective statistics or temporary trends. What the country needs is long-term economic plans that grow local businesses, investments are made in infrastructure development, and, most importantly, the rule of law is protected so that both investors and everyday Fijians can have confidence in the system.” Feedback: inoke.rabonu@fijisun.com.fj