Not a Bank Loss

Four million is the estimated value of assistance provided by Fiji Development Bank (FDB) to clients affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston and not a Bank loss as reported earlier in the media.

Fiji Development Bank (FDB) Chief Executive Officer, Mr Deve Toganivalu said, “The $4MM simply refers to the estimate value of the entire assistance provided to clients to help them with rehabilitation.”

The Bank’s rehabilitation package to affected clients included repayment moratorium, interest rate assistance and rehabilitation financing.

“For a self-sustaining financial institution, the delayed income is labeled as a loss for the said financial year.

The estimated loss to the Bank is from the sense of interest income lost during the period of freeze of interest, cost of borrowing additional fund to cater for the reduce cash flow as a result of repayment moratorium and the additional fund to cater for the additional loans required by the affected clients”, he said.

FDB, as a major financier of agricultural projects in the country, stepped forward immediately to provide assistance to help the Bank’s existing business and farming customers recover from the damages sustained from tropical cyclone Winston and to customers whose source of repayment was affected from the tropical cyclone.