17 Jul 2007

Australia could have stopped coup - says Fiji's interim finance minister

3:46 pm on 17 July 2007

Fiji's interim finance minister and Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, says the Australian government could have stopped the military takeover last year.

His comments follow the Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer's reported concerns about the current state of the Fiji economy.

Mr Chaudhry says Australia's attempt to have Fiji suspended by the International Monetary Fund had not worked, so its concerns about the Fiji's economy are not only misplaced but they come too late.

He says had Australia spoken out as critically against the misrule and mismanagement of the Qarase government that drove Fiji to the verge of bankruptcy last year, it may have prevented the December takeover.

Mr Chaudhry says Mr Downer's statement about Fiji's economy is grossly misinformed and misleading because it fails to acknowledge that much of the current problems have their roots in six years of financial indiscipline and bad governance.

He says contrary to Mr Downer's claims, the Fiji economy is now on the mend and the financial position has stabilized from the precarious state it was in under the pervious government.

Mr Chaudhry says foreign reserves are now sufficient to pay for 3.4 months of imports compared with 2.9 months of imports in May last year, imports are falling and interest rates have come down.