11 Jun 2004

Fiji seeks outside help for public sector reform

1:44 pm on 11 June 2004

Fiji Finance Minister, Ratu Jone Kubuabola, says his country is looking for help from Australia and New Zealand as it endeavours to reform its public enterprises.

Ratu Jone says this week's Pacific Ministers meeting was particularly relevant in the areas of institutional reform and public enterprise governance.

Fiji has a major revamping of its government sector underway but Ratu Jone says the one handicap they face is a lack of skills and knowledge and this was raised at the Ministers' meeting.

He says they would like to call on New Zealand's experience in reforming its public sector and they are also talking with the Governments of New South Wales and Queensland.

"as I said it is mainly capacity, formulation of policies that will ensure that public enterprises are a bit more efficient - their return on equity can be improved .....at the moment it is less than 3 percent - so very much less than what the government can borrow on the open market."

Ratu Jone Kubuabola