Newly elected Fiji PM vows to tackle growing national debt

By COURTNEY WALSH
Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has vowed to address the “litany of woe” created by the nation’s former government while raising concerns about the Pacific nation’s massive debt. In his first address to the country since being sworn in to office on Christmas Eve, Rabuka said Thursday that the incoming government needed to address Fiji’s growing debt, which he said may be over 10 billion Fijian dollars ($4.5 billion). Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered congratulations Thursday to the new government and praised its peaceful transition of power. Fiji has seen four coups in the past 25 years, two of them led by Rabuka in 1987.