Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, Mahendra Chaudhry and Professor Biman Prasad

Former Prime Minister and Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry claims this is the third time that Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad has ruffled the Prime Minister’s feathers.

This afternoon, in a response to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s comment on Prasad’s plan for the expenses for the National Economic Summit, Chaudhry says the PM’s statement is a rebuke to Prasad.

The Prime Minister had said that no budget has been approved for the summit, and he will talk with Prasad about being realistic about spending.

Chaudhry says that Prasad has undoubtedly put the coalition government in a somewhat awkward, if not embarrassing, position, as it had been campaigning to bring down the high cost of living, not raise taxes.

He says on the first occasion, the PM announced there would be a mini-budget in March, but Prasad immediately countered that publicly by saying there would be no mini-budget, just the budget in July.

He says that following this, he jumped the gun again and announced that “taxation increases are inevitable,” just as he announced the appointment of the Fiscal Review Committee.

The third instance is announcing the $360,000 budget for the summit, which the Prime Minister says he is not in favor of.