Fiji is in the process of issuing a sovereign blue bond- Prof. Prasad

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad says Fiji is in the process of issuing a sovereign blue bond and is considering an Sustainable Development Goal acceleration bond.

He says that Fiji intends to explore debt to nature swaps in near future.

While chairing the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting at the margins of the 2023 World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco Prof. Prasad has called on more urgent actions on the reform of the international financial architecture to address access to finance and debt sustainability issues.

Prof. Prasad also raised the global risks most countries face, particularly the existential threat of climate change to vulnerable small states.

He says there are various proposals on the reform of the financial architecture.

While highlighting Barbados, he says that one of their own, a small state for that matter, has initiated a courageous move - the Bridgetown Initiative - calling for urgent and decisive action to address overlapping crises and adds they rally behind this initiative.

Commonwealth countries have also been encouraged to pursue greater debt transparency.

As part of the preparation for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meetings, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Ariff Ali chaired the Commonwealth Central Bank Governors Meeting while the Permanent Secretary for Finance Shiri Gounder chaired the Commonwealth Senior Officials Meeting earlier this week.