# THE 2025-26 BUDGET: BIMAN’S BIG CON. PART ONE (UPDATED)

As the dust settles from the Coalition’s budget announcement for 2025-26, the hype of providing relief for the Fijian people from cost-of-living pressures is giving way to some disturbing conclusions for anyone concerned about the proper management of the economy.

The embattled Finance Minister, Biman Prasad, may be a professor of economics but he is a lot more free-spending and reckless than his predecessor, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, ever was. And Khaiyum had a lot more to show for that spending, including digging Fiji out of the Covid crisis and among other things, saving the national airline. On top of dealing with big damage bills from successive cyclones.

Not only has the national debt soared to an unprecedented $11.7 billion under Biman Prasad despite him having harped on for years about the urgency of bringing it down, the government is spending more on day-to-day operating expenditure than investing in new infrastructure.

It’s all in the spreadsheet below for anyone who wants to track Fiji’s trajectory over the past ten years. But for those of you who may not be spread-sheet kind of people, here are some very sobering facts:

• The budget allocation this year for Capital is the lowest in over a decade. 
• The last three budget allocations for Capital have been less than inflation.
• The budget is not keeping pace with costs and the investment in Infrastructure is falling behind. 
• In the 2025-26 Budget, the operating costs of government increased by $671.1042 Million
• Capital Expenditure fell by $272.7343 Million
• Dept/Agency running costs increased by $563.2859 Million;
• VAT was removed as a budget item and is to be included in the estimate for each program;
• The Gross deficit increased by a further $503478.8 Million.

And while the Coalition spin for its blatantly pre-election budget is that everyone is better off, here’s a list of the following ministries and agencies that have received less money for capital expenditure than in the last budget:

• Ministry of Health and Medical Services

• Ministry of Housing

• Ministry of Women, Children & Social Protection

• Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways

• Ministry of Fisheries

• Ministry of Land & Mineral Resources

• Ministry of Multi-Ethnic Affairs and Sugar Industry

• Ministry of Local Government

• Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation

• Ministry of iTaukei Affairs and Culture Heritage and Arts

• Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs

• Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations

• Ministry of Environment and Climate Change

• Ministry of Civil Service and Public Enterprises

• Republic of Fiji Military Forces

• Fiji Police Force

• Office of the President

• Office of the Prime Minister

• Ministry of Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development & Statistics.

Put simply, Biman Prasad is spending more keeping everything going than on capital works and better infrastructure. And that applies even to those ministries like iTaukei affairs that are central to the government’s priorities.

So he can wheel out all the tame economists he likes but Fiji is borrowing (and begging) increasingly more to cover the day-to-day costs of running a bloated government and propping up the excesses of the present rather than investing in the nation’s future.

The evidence is all around us. And as the Jack Nicholson/Diane Keaton movie said, something’s gotta give.

(Click on the image below to enlarge the spread-sheet for every year since 2014)

And for a broader perspective, here’s some data going back 45 years to 1980.

My apologies for the slightly blurry figures.

UPDATE (Monday AM)

How’s this, Fiji? Borrowing to pay off the previous borrowing. We really are down the rabbit hole with Professor Know-it-All.

And when is “Whinging Biman” going to stop blaming the previous government for everything?

Listen up, Professor. You have been running the economy for two-and-a-half years and the buck stops with you. And it is becoming increasingly clear that Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum – for all his shortcomings – was streets ahead of you, despite your formal qualifications.