Any poverty budget cut regrettable: Activist

from The Fiji Times

The Interim Government's intention to cut funding for poverty alleviation is regrettable considering the growing number of poor people, social activist Father Kevin Barr says.

"I hope we can look forward in future budgets by this Interim Government to more being allocated for the poor," said Fr Barr, the director of the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA).

"It is very regrettable there is a diminishing of funds for poverty alleviation as there are so many poor people in the country."

Interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry announced a cut was likely for poverty alleviation in the revised budget. Fr Barr said if past surveys of poverty were anything to go by, the situation could be worrying and more money was needed to counter that. A Housing Income and Expenditure survey carried out between 2002 and 2003 found 34.8 per cent of Fiji's population living in poverty. "This has obviously increased since then, contributed by the numbers of those who have been displaced by the expiry of land-leases," said Fr Barr.

The Ministry for Women, Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation confirmed they had received dozens of new applications since January for State assistance from needy families.

Interim Minister Adi Laufitu Malani said they were still trying to clear a backlog of cases pending from three years ago. She said 50 new applications had been received since January.