Finance Minister Biman Prasad has clarified that the ongoing National Budget Consultations are designed to be focused and targeted, rather than large public gatherings.

He made the comment following the first 2025-2026 National Budget public consultation at the Rishikul Sanatan College in Nasinu on Thursday night.

Close to 30 people gathered at this first public consultation.

“This is not about getting the whole community. This is about giving opportunity to those who may want to make submissions,” Mr Prasad said.

“We don’t want to do what used to be done in the past. You get two to three hundred people and tell them what you do.”

Explaining Government’s current approach, Mr Prasad noted that consultations had been strategically structured to engage with specific sectors rather than the general public.

“This is the way we’ve structured our consultation from Wednesday. We’re focusing on different groups,” he said.

“Wednesday, we had all the financial sectors. In the morning, we had all the manufacturers and business sector. Thursday, we had transport, then we had media and communications. Friday we had other groups.”

He said the consultations included a few community-level engagements to ensure inclusivity in key areas such as education.

“We’ll have one or two community engagements, like we had this one here in the school, so that teachers, people interested in education can come. Friday, we had one at the University of the South Pacific, where higher education institutions and the representatives would come,” he said.

Mr Prasad stressed that gathering thousands of people for a budget consultation “makes no sense” and that engaging with specific sector representatives is a more effective and practical approach.

“When we go to the West, we will call on different groups. We might have one or two community (meetings) where people in a particular sector—you know, farmers, different groups—will have an opportunity or representatives.

“We are basically inviting not everyone, but representatives of different groups and sectors, and I think that’s a better way of doing consultation on a budget, rather than just going out there and hoping that people will turn up.”

He said that while this approach contrasted with broader community consultations previously used for the National Development Plan, it was better suited for targeted discussions around the national budget.

“This is more focused, more aligned to different sector groupings. So that’s a difference.”

Mr Prasad confirmed that written submissions remained open until the end of April, and further detailed consultations with ministries and departments would follow the current phase.

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