THERE is a need to encourage more Fijians to manage whatever limited funds they have, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic situation.
With this objective in mind, the Reserve Bank of Fiji and ANZ with support from the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme, a training of trainers workshop kickstarted yesterday to train government and community influencers, who would be able to go back to their communities and educate their peers on the objective.
RBF chief manager financial system development, Poasa Werekoro said the recent coronavirus pandemic had taught many valuable lessons.
“Firstly, that without much warning, our jobs can be lost and that our lives can change in an instant.”
Mr Werekoro said many Fijians were not financially prepared to weather the full effects of COVID, as well as the recent series of climate-related disasters.
“Financial education is one possible solution. We need to teach our people and our children to save, to spend wisely and plan for the unexpected. And this is the reason our team needs your help, in spreading this message.”
According to Mr Werekoro the workshop was part of a wider COVID-19 Economic Response Financial Literacy Outreach Campaign, that the RBF was undertaking in partnership with the UN’s PFIP, which aligned with their efforts at the RBF to drive the national financial inclusion agenda.
He stressed that the impact of the work that the RBF did must be felt by all Fijians and that could only happen if everyone was included in the financial system.
Highlighting ANZ’s MoneyMinded program, Mr Werekoro said the program had been very successful in building financial education in Fiji, as well as the Pacific.
“Financial inclusion requires a concerted approach and we thank institutions like ANZ for partnering with us on this journey.”
ANZ Fiji CEO Saud Minam said it was so important for everyone to understand how to manage their money properly today and tomorrow, especially during the current situation everyone was faced with.
The ANZ and RBF also signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday which signified the central bank’s endorsement of the MoneyMinded program.
Meanwhile ANZ district manager corporate sustainability, Sitiveni Marovia said their objective was to encourage more Fijians to learn to save and better manage their money, at the same time learning to say “No” to people without feeling guilty.
Since the launch of the MoneyMinded program in Fiji, as many as 22,723 people have gone through the training with at least 70 trainers trained to educate communities on the program.
