The Fijian economy currently stands at about $11 billion(US$5.5 billion).
 
Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) chief executive Visvanath Das says the FRCS has contributed a lot to the economy in helping Fijians through social welfare, health and education initiatives.
 
After hitting one billion dollars in revenue, the FRCS then surpassed two billion, and now the tax collection agency has set its target on three years of record revenue collection
 
“We went from a billion-dollar tax revenue to two, and now we are ready for the third billion-dollar revenue outcome. Of course, the Fijian economy now stands at $11billion as well. Our work impacts Fijians economy, economic development, and the better standard of living an access every ordinary Fijian deserves.”
 
Das says they have plans to keep improving and deliver quality services for all Fijians and continue to contribute to the growth of the economy.
 
Meanwhile, the Fiji Development Bank (FDB) profits dropped from $8.1million (US$4 million) in 2017 to $7.4million (US$3.4 million) in 2018.
 
This was highlighted by FDB Chief Executive Mark Clough while presenting their 2018 annual report to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Affairs.
 
Clough says despite the reduction in profits, this is an acceptable result as FDB’s assets grew from $402 million (US$201 million to $467million (US$214.8 million) last year.
 
“Our loan portfolio increased from $438m(US$201.4 million to $487million(US$224 million). Within that loan portfolio, the mix is approximately 45 percent in the focused sectors dominated by agriculture and 55 percent in the non-focused sectors usually dominated by real-estates, resorts, manufacturing in the line.”
 
In 2018, FDB had approximately 4,100 loan accounts in the focused sector and 1,050 loan accounts in the non-focused sector.
 
FDB processed 1,600 applications worth $122 million (US$56 million) last year alone.

SOURCE: FBC NEWS/PACNEWS

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