BY the end of April this year, the Government had spent $89.8million on 1301 first homeowners.
Reserve Bank governor Ariff Ali told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Affairs on Monday that $10.2m was available for further lending.
“As of April 30, 2025, the outstanding loan under this facility was about $89.8million to 1301 first homeowners and $10.2million is available for further lending,” he said.
“Since its inception, 1677 homeowners have been assisted with loans totalling $124million, of which $34.2million has been settled.”
Mr Ali says if the funds get fully exhausted, then they’ll seek approval from the board for additional funding.
“Well, this is something that we feel is important, and this is something that the committee had also said.”
Speaking on the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, Mr Ali said there were 23 BPOs currently working in the country.
“The economics team and I have met. There are about 23 BPOs working in Fiji. We have met each one of them.
“In our view, they are contributing somewhere around $200m in foreign exchange,” Mr Ali said.
“This sector has grown quite remarkably over the COVID period.
“The numbers in the industry are somewhere around five to 6000 right now, a significant increase from where it was three-four years ago, and this can further increase by an additional 2000 in the next couple of years, provided there are no challenges, particularly on the labour issue, which is one issue.”
