FIJI owes more than $1billion to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as of April this year.
Finance Minister Esrom Immanuel told Parliament that ADB was now Fiji’s largest external lender, with outstanding loans of around $US608.6million, equivalent to approximately $F1.356 billion.
“ADB is a key development partner and has held an enduring relationship with Fiji since 1970,” Mr Immanuel said.
“We have partnered with them on numerous projects, including roads, water, wastewater, bridges, climate change-related projects, budget support operations, fiscal support and private sector development.”
Mr Immanuel said the total outstanding ADB loan amounted to about 88.4 per cent of Fiji’s external debt and around 12.3 per cent of total Government debt at the end of April.
“Currently, ADB is the largest external lender for Fiji.
“The total loan outstanding amount to around $US608.6million, approximately $F1.356billion at the end of April.”
He said around 21 per cent of ADB borrowing was concessional, with repayment terms of up to 40 years, including a 10-year grace period and interest rates between one and two per cent.
Mr Immanuel said Fiji was grateful for ADB’s decision to reclassify Fiji from a Group C to a Group B country from January 2022.
He said Government also welcomed the endorsement of soft lending terms to Small Island Developing States, including Fiji, in alignment with the World Bank’s International Development Association.
“This means that these loans are made available to Fiji on more favourable terms than what we can obtain from the market.”
