Fiji removes duty on basic food items
Updated
Fiji's acting interim finance minister, Filipe Bole, has announced the income tax threshold will rise from $US6,000 to $US10,000, and duty on basic food items will be temporarily removed.
It is hoped the measures will relieve pressure on low-income earners.
Premila Kumar, of the Fiji Consumer Council, has welcomed the tax cuts but says they could go further.
She has told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program poor people need access to the government supply stores.
"So what my suggestion is, that people below the $9000 threshold, if they can carry a card and they can do their shopping in these government supply shops, because government supplies, the mark-up percentage is only 13 per cent, and not more, as compared to other shops," she said.
"So it is already cheap and by allowing these vulnerable consumers to shop there would mean that they would be saving."
