Financial institutions should assist

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) has called on all financial institutions to assist in the quick recovery of the economy by assisting those affected financially after Tropical Cyclone Mick.

Sada Reddy said the financial institutions should assist by making temporary adjustments to repayments and to extend credit for replanting and business resumptions.

Reddy has specifically requested the insurance companies to assess and settle insurance claims quickly.

He said all banks should resume full services from today after being closed for business in the last two days.

Reddy said while it will take the government teams a few days to assess the full impact of the cyclone, initial reports suggest that while no significant damages have been caused to infrastructure, the agricultural sector has suffered major damage especially to food crops.

He revealed that this will have a short term effect of vegetable shortages and thus increases in prices of vegetables and other food crops.

Reddy also said the cyclone may have some adverse effects on tourism and agro-based industries.

The RBF Governor said the full impact on the economy is difficult to assess at this stage but it will have some downside effects.