Lending to the agriculture sector will be a priority for the Fiji Development Bank (FDB) moving forward. This commitment was outlined in the bank’s 2023 Annual Report tabled in Parliament last week.
“Agriculture lending continues to be the bank’s priority. In support of growth in the sector, the bank had also launched the Sugarcane Farmers’ Special Loan facility targeted at providing an additional loan facility including loan top-up for our existing sugarcane farming customers and loan facility for new sugarcane farmers,” FDB chief executive officer Saud Minam stated in his CEO’s report.
During the financial year, which ended June 30, 2023, FDB’s $502.34million loans portfolio comprised of a total of 9366 accounts, a 9.85 per cent increase from the previous year and this was dominated by its lending to the agriculture sector, which comprised 34.68 per cent of total accounts.
“Within the agriculture portfolio, the distribution of total value shows that a majority (64.98 per cent), is associated with sugarcane-related activities, while the remaining 35.02per cent relates to non-sugarcane projects. This breakdown features the significant presence of sugarcane-related activities within the overall agriculture portfolio, indicating its substantial contribution to the portfolio’s overall value,” the report stated.
By value, the bank’s agriculture portfolio, under the entire value chain perspective, including producers/ growers, processors, and exporters accounted for 19.57 per cent of total portfolio or around $98million.
By account numbers, sugar-related accounts comprised 48.25 per cent or 1563 accounts while 51.75 per cent or 1681 accounts were attributed to non-sugar borrowings.
“The bank’s future efforts will be concentrated on Agriculture, SME and MSME sector growth, enhancing customer service delivery, advancing and driving FDB’s digital agenda with continuous collaboration with relevant Ministries to help drive the Fijian government’s agenda,” FDB stated.
