Leader of Opposition Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu says the increase in the minimum wage to $4 per hour will have an impact on the suffering and narrow based manufacturing sector.

This, he said, would be unsustainable for small manufacturing businesses.

He has also labeled the Revised 2021-2022 National Budget as a marketing gimmick to attract voters.

Ratu Naiqama made the statement while delivering his response to the Revised 2021-2022 National Budget address in Parliament on Friday.

He claimed that as usual, the Revised Budget was sugar coated and full of promises that would not be fulfilled and programmes would not be implemented.

“The marketing gimmick by the Minister of Economy to attract voters as we move towards the election will not work because the people of Fiji know the truth since they have been misleading the nation in the past 15 years or so,” he said.

“Basically, it is anticipated that revenue is to increase from $2.085billion to $2.253billion an increase of over $200m. Whilst expenditure is expected to increase by over $100.00m from $3.691b to $3.715b.

“As I have stated earlier, these figures are unrealistic because on average the annual revenue shortfall is around $500m in the last five years and average annual under expenditure is always around $600m.”

He added that it was interesting to note that the VAT for at least 21 basic items would be zero rated and there would be an increase of VAT of 15 to 21 items.

“The poor will not only benefit from the zero-rated VAT items but also the rich.

“It also means the poor will have difficulties in accessing items such as textiles and footwear.

“The basic principle of VAT is that it is broad based and everyone shares the burden with a small increase.

“To help the poor and most vulnerable a more targeted approach is more feasible to increase existing assistance due to the increase in VAT rather than directly removing VAT on basic food items will also benefit the rich.”