Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad has confirmed that the Fiji Development Bank’s total customer base increased to 9,711 customers in the 2024 – 2025 financial year from 8,526 customers in the previous financial year while Opposition MP Premila Kumar says FDB is struggling to fulfill its mandate.
While speaking during the debate on the consolidated Review Report of FDB’s 2022 and 2023 annual reports, Professor Prasad says the bank successfully disbursed a substantial sum of $91.26 million to customers against the annual target of $80 million in the 2024 – 2025 financial year.
He says FDB recorded an audited profit of $5.6 million in the 2024 financial year—an increase of 46 percent from the previous year.
Professor Prasad says this is attributed to prudent cost management and a decline in the borrowing expense by $2 million, which is a 38 percent decline.
The Deputy Prime Minister also confirmed that non-performing loan portfolio declined to around 18 percent in the financial year 2024 – from 22 to 24 percent at the end of financial year 2022. He confirms the bank has recently undertaken a comprehensive review with the assistance of KPMG to look at its structure and operational effectiveness.
Professor Prasad says the bank is committed to improving efficiency by speeding up services, streamlining loans and support—especially for women, youth, and rural clients—diversifying income with new products like housing loans and leasing, cutting operational and staff costs, and decentralising services to branches.
He confirms all this work has already begun, some of it has already been done and the new board and the new CEO are working very hard.
Meanwhile, Kumar has called for an independent external review of FDB’s operations to assess its financial health, governance, and alignment with national development priorities. While highlighting the consolidated report, Kumar says FDB’s struggles are marked by reduced lending, bureaucratic delays and missed opportunity and FDB needs to change its game.
Kumar says committee hearings highlighted extended waiting time, an exorbitant interest rate with high fees and charges which are not clearly disclosed to the clients.
The MP says such a disconnect not only stifles economic activity but erodes confidence in an institution that should be enabling inclusive growth.
She says of 48,000 farmers, only about 1,000 receive FDB support – mostly sugarcane growers.
Kumar stressed that loan approvals take months, and they were really saddened to hear in Seaqaqa that there were people who were waiting for years for FDB to approve the loan.
The MP says this raises questions about whether this is true development financing or actually debt entrapment.
She also highlighted that in the report, $112 million remain unrecovered, with an additional $11 million written off.
Kumar adds such figures demand rigorous scrutiny by the board.
