The Fiji Development Bank (FDB) is assessing a new loan application from restaurant chain Grace Road.
This was revealed by FDB’s chief executive officer Filimone Waqabaca at a sitting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs last week.
When questioned by committee member and Opposition MP Rinesh Sharma on why Grace Road’s name was absent from a list of entities scheduled for site inspections, despite claims that the bank finances major businesses, Mr Waqabaca confirmed the company was an early loan recipient but had fully repaid its debt.
“Grace Road was a recipient of loans from FDB at a very initial stage, I think when they entered the Fiji market, FDB was a financier at that point, and they paid off their debt in 2021,” he said.
“So, they were in our books, and they paid off in 2021.”
He added the company recently submitted a new loan application, which was now under assessment.
“And they have also made of recent, they’ve made applications to the Fiji Development Bank, which was assessed and has been taken up to our board risk committee.”
Mr Waqabaca said loan decisions were guided by fairness and national interest.
“For me as a CEO and also wearing the development hat, I use the constitution as the guide in extending our loans or assessing loan proposals.”
“I tell our team that as much as possible, we should not be discriminatory in our approach, especially if it’s a business and it comes to FDB.
“So, Grace Road, we currently have an application which we are assessing, but I look at the business more as what is the country getting from this business? Are we having an impact? And those are the set of questions that we will be contemplating as we assess the application from Grace Road.
“Otherwise, at this point, they have repaid and they are not in our books.”
