Prices still rising despite VAT reduction: Consumer Council

Prices of everyday goods have not come down despite the reduction of Value Added Tax (VAT), the Consumer Council of Fiji says.

This was highlighted by Consumer Council chief executive officer Seema Shandil on Tuesday before the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs.

The committee was reviewing the Fiji Competition and Consumer Commission’s 2023–2024 annual report.

Ms Shandil said some products had recorded price increases of up to 38 per cent.

“Our observation has not been like, through market surveillances, the prices still, if you look at the VAT price decrease, but what we have seen, the prices have not actually decreased,” she said.

Ms Shandil said the council’s market surveillance, conducted from late March to early May 2026, found fewer special offers on price-controlled items, with prices increasing within the allowable ceiling.

“There’s less specials, or the prices have actually increased within that ceiling,” she said.

Ms Shandil said duty and tax reductions were also not being fully passed on to consumers at the retail level and called on the FCCC to “move from observation to more proactive intervention”.

Committee chairperson and Assistant Minister Sakiusa Tubuna noted significant price variations between supermarkets, citing a 1.4-kilogram roast chicken priced at $21.50 at one store compared with a 1.7-kilogram chicken sold for $22 at another.

Ms Shandil said the council had for two years been pushing for a formal market inquiry into the retail sector, similar to an inquiry conducted by Australia’s competition regulator into its supermarket industry.

The Price Monitoring and Evaluation Team, led by the Ministry of Finance and including the FCCC and Consumer Council, has since been formed to track pricing from customs through to retail shelves.