Top CEO says the view that  businesses will stop hiring women because of the increased amount of maternity leave is “pure rubbish”

The 2018/19 National Budget is a step in the right direction and has put Fiji on the world map, says Fijian Holdings Group Limited chief executive officer Nouzab Fareed.

Mr Fareed believes that families in Fiji have been ignored for too long, and June’s budget can remedy that.

Announced by the Minister for Economy and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, the budget has been ridiculed by some opposition politicians for being an ‘election-budget.’

But Mr Fareed has a different view.

He said: “Whoever says this budget is wrong and politically motivated, does not understand what they are talking about. It may be costly initially but this is the right way to go.

“I don’t believe it’s an election budget. It is a budget done with the future in focus.

“This budget, though it is not much beneficial to businesses or high net individuals or to the middle class, it’s really beneficial to the people of this country.”

In the budget, Government announced that working mothers would now be able to take 98 days paid maternity leave instead of 84.

Fathers, too, for the first time can claim 10 days paternity leave, a policy Mr Fareed believes has aligned Fiji with international standards.

Additionally, mothers earning an income below $30,000 will get a $1,000 grant for each newborn child, it was announced.

The budget also has the provision for social welfare recipients and civil servants to qualify for family insurance.

“There are very few countries in the world that looks after families. There are only few countries where civil servants are fully insured. We are basically benchmarking Fiji with the world, so I think this is the right way to go,” Mr Fareed said.

“I wish to congratulate the Government. Again I’m saying even though it is not beneficial much to businesses, but it is really beneficial to my own staff. I have got 1,900 staff, out of that more than 1,500 is benefitting from this.”

Some local businesses have quietly shown discontent for the increased staff leave initiatives announced in the budget.

A few have anonymously said they are not willing to bear the cost of paying women for the extra days of leave they now qualify for.

Mr Fareed, however, says this sentiment was “pure rubbish.”

“We have to treat everybody fairly. Globally, the number of maternity leave is much more than this,” he said.

“I think an important thing to consider is that a mother has to be with the  newborn child kid for three to four months without any separation.

“I am a father of three kids, and I wish it should be more than this (maternity leave).

“Whoever says they won’t hire women they don’t look at a family as a unit, they are looking at money only. You always have to make profit with a purpose, I’m a true believer in that.”

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