The Suva Retailers Association is hopeful that the 2024–2025 budget will have provisions in favour of the business community.

Association President Jitesh Patel says they have made submissions to the Finance Ministry on some of the expectations of the retailers.

He says that some of the suggestions that they have made include the removal of tariffs on goods and the minimum wage rate revision.

“Well, we know the budget; the government has already indicated some of the things, like we expect a rise in wages coming in, because that talk has been there for a while. Let’s see how that is implemented. In terms of finances, we have established a tariff that is consistent with previous years. So we think it will continue with the same process.”

Patel adds that the future plans of the businesses often depend on the national budget.

“Well, it depends on what kind of budget we get. We always want to look on the positive side of things to make sure that, well, a budget is a budget, right? The government spells out that this is how they want to spend the money, what the income expectations are, and things like that. And of course, we all have to make sure we work hard and the workforce works hard. Because at the end of the day, if you want good pay, productivity has to match as well.”

Gift and Souvenir Distributors, Fiji Ltd General Manager Amit Ram says one of the major challenges that his business is experiencing is the expansion in operational costs.

“Well, at this moment, there are so many operational costs that have been incurred and that have been rising. Plus, sales are not an expectation, so we would like to request that the government look into this and see how we can specialize to get this revenue-generating income and the ongoing sales.”

Ram hopes that this budget announcement will be a friendly budget for companies.

The 2024–2025 budget will be announced tomorrow.