World banks explore Fiji funding bid

November 09, 2009 07:42:57 AM

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Representatives of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are expected in Fiji this week as the Government looks for financing of its land reform to be implemented early 2010.

The land reform agenda is part of a set of reforms Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said were designed to help Fiji achieve its true potential.

The visit follows the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Istanbul early last month that was attended by Bainimarama, Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Sada Reddy and Finance Ministry permanent secretary John Prasad.

Bainimarama said the banks’ representatives will get a better sense of the situation here before a decision on its loan to Fiji is made.

He said the Reserve Bank of Fiji and Finance Ministry will work with the visiting party.

In July this year, Bainimarama announced his roadmap to returning Fiji to democratic elections in 2014, conditional to the implementation of certain reforms.

He said the land reform is intended to salvage Fiji's struggling sugar industry and open up more opportunities for tourism and agriculture.

He said his government will ensure that taukei landowners get an attractive return when they give out their land for lease.

Indigenous Fijian landowners own about 90 per cent of all the land in Fiji.

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