Fiji seeks infrastructure loans

The government has secured or is in the process of securing a few multi-million dollar loans to assist in the development of infrastructure in the country.

Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama is currently in Turkey for talks with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Fijivillage has received confirmation that so far, a $70 million loan has been approved by the Exim Bank of China.

$50 million of the loan will be allocated to Housing Authority.

The Authority is focusing on building low cost homes and developing the Tacirua land.    

$20 million of the loan will be released to the Public Rental Board.

The PRB is expected to build 500 housing units in the Raiwai/Raiwaqa area.

It was earlier announced that government is seeking a total of $240 million from China as part of the soft loan scheme.

Late last month, Commodore Bainimarama visited Malaysia and it was revealed that Fiji has secured a $40 million loan from the Exim Bank in Malaysia.

Commodore Bainimarama has told Fijivillage that they will be upgrading roads throughout Fiji through this assistance from Malaysia.

He said the assistance will directly benefit the people of Fiji and especially the outer islands which have been affected by poor road conditions

Now Commodore Bainimarama and the Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Sada Reddy are in Istanbul for the IMF and World Bank meetings.

Just a few weeks ago, the Reserve Bank had announced that foreign reserves got a boost from nearly $190 million allocation made by the International Monetary Fund to Fiji.

The IMF has allocated in total $US250 billion to all the member countries of the Fund as part of the global financial assistance due to the global economic crisis.

Fiji received $FJ165 million on 28th August and a further $FJ25 million was received on the 9th of this month.

This assisted in Fiji having a record $1 billion in foreign reserves.