Fijian Competition and Consumer Warns Tenants

Tenants could land themselves in trouble if they are lying to landlords that they have been affected by the economic implications of COVID-19, said the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC).

Both tenants and landlords have raised issues with the FCCC.

FCCC chief executive officer Joel Abraham said tenancy was governed through a private contract between landlords and tenants.

He urged landlords to negotiate agreeable terms with their tenants and resolve those issues and avoid future problems.

“I urge landlords to consider theses hard times and show solidarity with our fellow Fijians and empower them during these hard times, making recovery easier for all parties,” Mr Abraham said.

Tenants are being urged to talk and negotiate with landlords.

FCCC has assured that they will investigate claims of dubious tenants.

“It must be very clear that no landlord should use this time to evict tenants unlawfully. The law is very clear that for evictions a court order is required,” Mr Abraham said.

Credit: Fiji Sun

Date: 29/4/2020

Banks ready to ease loan repayments

ECONOMY MINISTER AIYAZ SAYED-KHAIYUM

Amidst the COVID-19 crisis there is some hope for people with bank loans.

The financial institutions have in principal agreed to invoke hardship allowance repayments under the Consumer Credit Act.

Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum  says a meeting was held with the Association of Banks yesterday where these issues were discussed at length.

“We hope to have some further meetings with them – but there is a general agreement in principal – that firstly we have the Consumer Credit Act. Under this Act – that relates to personal mortgages and hire purchase for example, there is a hardship allowance.”

Sayed-Khaiyum says the financial institutions are looking at repayment holidays where they will be deferring principal amount payments.

“Which means for example in some instances could be complete stop of repayments, or could be only interest payments, And then of course there are many other loans that fall outside of the Consumer Credit Act for example – the small businesses and other large businesses and again Banks have shown an appetite to stop repayments. This does not mean that if you are running a very healthy business and you have not been affected by COVID-19, you will also get that holiday. It is for all those businesses who have actually been affected.”

The government is also in talks with the Fiji National Provident Fund to discuss how members can access funds and how much they can access. An announcements in this respect will be made soon.

The Minister says people should use internet for their banking needs instead of physically going to the banks.

“And you will see now, many of the other banks now are further building capacity in the digital space so people don’t necessarily physically have to go to the banks to access funds or even for that matter deposit – so they will be able to use machines.”

The Minister has also assured that in terms of lending, banks have said there is a healthy liquidity in the market and any projects that are eligible for funding will be accommodated.

Credit: FBC

Date: 19/3/2020

Businesses urged to have continuity plan

FCCC CHIEF EXECUTIVE JOEL ABRAHAM

The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission is looking into how businesses can mitigate the effects of COVID-19.

FCCC is liaising with the Employment Ministry and the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation in addressing this area of concern.

Chief Executive Joel Abraham says it’s critical that businesses have a continuity plan to help them respond to the virus.

Abraham says COVID-19 does not discriminate between employers, businesses and people, adding that Fijian lives should be prioritized.

“We are talking with both the Ministry of Employment as well as the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation on how are employers placed and how they are dealing with it. Do businesses have continuity plans? You can have a continuity plan but do you have a preparedness action plan in place? How are you going to action it out? Have you done mock tests?”

FCCC is advising employers to have processes in place to help them handle COVID-19 cases if it reaches the work place.

He is also urging the public to practice proper hygiene and wash their hands regularly with soap and water.

Credit: FBC

Date: 19/3/2020

Business will slow down as supply chain will get affected – Ali

The Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry President, Nur Bano Ali

The Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry will host a forum in Suva next Monday to understand what the businesses are going through and how they are trying to develop coping mechanisms to ride this storm of COVID-19.

President, Nur Bano Ali says business will absolutely slowdown as supply chains will be affected.

Ali says they will come up with targetted policy initiatives that can be taken on board by government to help businesses.

Ali says they will make submissions to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism after their forum next Monday.

Credit: Fiji Village

Date: 13/3/2020

Fiji drops in the ease of doing business ranking

KUMAR WHILE SPEAKING TO MEMBERS OF FIJI-AUSTRALIA BUSINESS COUNCIL [SOURCE: FIJIAN GOVERNMENT]

Despite a drop in the ease of doing business ranking, Industry and Trade Minister Premila Kumar is confident this will improve in the next review.

The ranking of economies on the ease of business is determined by sorting their scores for starting a business.

Kumar while speaking to members of Fiji-Australia Business Council highlighted that World Bank concludes reviews by April each year, however her ministry has done a lot since then which is not included in the ranking.

Kumar highlighted five things that have been done in the last year.

“One is, of course, the company registration, the tax registration coming online, then the bizFiji portal, we have done the business license reform very recently and personal properties registration”.

She adds one of the major steps is that the business licensing procedure now comprises only of two processes and a license is issued within 48 hours.

Credit: FBC

Date: 10/3/2020

Some landlords charging tenants maintenance fees

The Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission continues to receive complaints of illegal rent increment despite the rent freeze being in place.

FCCC Chief Executive, Joel Abraham says some landlords are now adding new charges to the existing rent.

He says landlords are becoming quite creative nowadays.

“By putting in other charges such as maintenance fees and levying a maintenance fee of say $50 extra per month because they can’t call it a rent increase so a maintenance fee has been imposed unilaterally.”

The CEO says such issues have come under their radar and the Commission is currently looking into the matter.

Credit: FBC

Date: 9/3/2020

Traders resorting to new markets

There are now fears that Fijians will soon have to fork out extra to pay for goods and services as the impact of COVID-19 continues to rattle the world.

Local Businesses in the country say they have started feeling the pinch of the outbreak because of the disruption to China’s supply chain and manufacturing network.

Economist Dr Rohit Kishore says as the world struggles to contain the COVID-19 virus, our economy has not been spared.

“Starting from last year and the beginning of this year there was a global economic downturn. That’s the major impact COVID-19 is going to have.”

Dr Kishore says as the factories in China have shut down, traders will now have to resort to new markets which may come with added costs and will put more price pressure on low-income earners.

“If we put price pressure on them they will have to fork out their savings. There is already less there and they probably will have nothing left.”

He adds that the threats to the global outlook have increased.

Meanwhile, the Suva Retailers Association says Fiji is not immune to the effects of global market performance

Association President Vinay Kumar says the most important thing is to contain the virus which will bring more confidence in the consumers and the business community.

Credit: FBC

Date: 6/3/2020

Over 200 Landlord and Tenancy complaints

AS OF AUGUST 2019 TO JANUARY 2020 THE CONSUMER COUNCIL HAS RECEIVED A TOTAL 202 COMPLAINTS REGARDING LANDLORD & TENANCY ISSUES.

As of August 2019 to January 2020 the Consumer Council has received a total 202 complaints regarding Landlord & Tenancy issues.

Council Chief Executive Seema Shandil says issues brought to their attention under this category included landlords not issuing rental receipts to tenants despite several requests.

Shandil says another issue was an illegal increase in rent despite the residential rent freeze order in place.

“Sometimes if the landlord has not given 30 days eviction notice what they do is that they disconnect the utilities which is electricity and water supply. This is illegal”

Shandil says other issues included refusal by landlords in refunding rental bond and some landlords gave unjustified quotations for wear and tear of their rented premises.

The council is calling on the tenants to inspect the rented property with the owner before moving in.

Credit: FBC

Date: 5/3/2020

Fiji aims for top 50 ranking

TRADE MINISTER PREMILA KUMAR

The Ministry of Trade has embarked on an ambitious target to improve Fiji’s ease of doing business ranking.

There are plans to significantly improve Fiji’s ranking from the current 102 in the world to 50 in the next five years.

Trade Minister Premila Kumar while responding to an oral question in Parliament today highlighted that while the digital transformation is at the core of the ongoing reforms, improving business processes is critical.

“The cabinet last month approved a bold target of been ranked in the top 50 in terms of doing business by the year 2025. It now becomes the mandate of the Ease of Doing Business Taskforce to adhere their monitoring, supervisory and review role to ensure that targets are met. The taskforce will also articulate progress to World Bank group through appropriate reporting mechanism.”

Kumar says from July last year, the Biz Fiji portal has enabled the improved quality and efficiency of services, ensuring better service delivery to assist both potential businesses and established businesses where needed.

Credit: FBC

Date: 21/2/2020

Business License Reform will be a game changer

THE MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND TRADE PREMILA KUMAR

The Minister for Industry and Trade today stressed that the Business License Reform will be a game changer for all businesses.

Premila Kumar says the reform will bring ease in setting up a business by reducing the time from the initial 40 days to approximately eight days.

Kumar says digitizing the process to issue business licenses has seen an increase in successful applications.

“Nausori Town Council has seen a 72% increase in issuance of business licenses in January 2020 compared to same period last year, that is 810 business licenses were issued in January 2020, compared to 470 in January 2019. In Suva, 193 new business licenses were issued compared to 74 in January 2019. Suva City Council was able to issue renewal of business licenses in less than 24 hours, whilst new business license met the 48-hour benchmark.”

Kumar says through the Digital Transformation programme, the Ministry will be able to continuously review its licensing process.

“Under this initiative, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism is mandated to implement reforms in “Ease of Doing Business”, to ensure business processes are revitalized and Fiji achieves a ranking of 50 by 2025 Doing Business Report.”

Reforming the Business Licensing process is part of the larger review process that the Government is undertaking to enhance business environment in the country.

Credit: FBC

Date: 18/2/2020