Minister for Defence, Inia Seruiratu says Members of the Opposition are not good for national leadership as they all acknowledged the importance of the Fiji Development Bank on Monday but have changed their position today by speaking against the motion for Parliament to approve the government guarantee for the FDB.
He says the Opposition keeps changing their position and are only focusing on elections.
Seruiratu says this is not the first guarantee for the FDB by any government as this is being provided since the bank’s inception and 2022 is not an exception.
He then spoke about the sugar industry and said the collapsing infrastructure of mills and other problems existed in the late 90s however the National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad keeps blaming the current government for all the problems.
Seruiratu told the Parliament that the late Professor Brij Lal in an interview had stated the sugar industry was on a decline and unfortunately our leaders in the 90s did not have the foresight to encourage diversification to face this eventuality.
Parliament has approved the Government guarantee for the Fiji Development Bank borrowings for the 12 month period from 1st March 2022 to 28th February 2023 through the issuance of short and long-term bonds, promissory notes, term deposits, any RBF financing facility and other short-term borrowings.
Parliament has also approved that the Government guarantee is for $200 million and guarantee fee of 0.075% be applied on the cumulative utilised guarantee credit.
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