The Fiji Development Bank has partnered with the Agence Française de Development (French Development Agency — AFD) through the issuance of the EURIZ guarantee, also supported by the European Union (EU).
The two organisations inked the EURIZ loan portfolio guarantee agreement on Wednesday, May 17 in Suva.
The agreement offers a flexible, convenient and attractively priced risk-sharing mechanism to financial institutions, to facilitate loan access for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with high development impacts.
The agreement will allow FDB to expand its MSME financings.
The target beneficiaries of this guarantee include MSMEs with high developmental impacts such as green, women-led, youth-led, health, education, agriculture, digital and social businesses.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development and Statistics, Professor Biman Prasad said while FDB had the full support of Government, it was pleasing to see the bank engaging with international partners that would assist in reaching out to more people.
FDB chief executive officer Saud Minam acknowledged AFD and the European Union for this collaboration with the development bank, which is the first of its kind for the South Pacific.
Mr Minam highlighted that the total amount of the guarantee commitment under this agreement is three million euros (EUR 3,000,000), equivalent to approximately $F7 million.
“This collaboration is a significant boost for our economy providing the much-needed avenue to further support the growth of small businesses,” said Mr Minam.
French Ambassador to Fiji François-Xavier Léger highlighted the agreement marked a beginning of new a partnership between Fiji and France through the two organisations (FDB and AFD) in the public development bank sector.
Executive director for geographies at AFD Philippe Orliange said: “As public development banks, FDB and AFD have an important role to play in the fight against climate change: channelling public and private finance towards green investments to support mitigation and adaptation from the community level to the regional one.”
The FDB is now looking at further expanding its lending facilities for agriculture and MSMEs.
As part of this growth strategy, the bank will reportedly be focusing on climate-related projects and promoting gender equality within the business community.
