November 13, 2009
FIJI Water wins again
Cabinet approves Gaming Decree
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Support SMEs
Support SMEs, microfinance: Naiyaga
www.fijilive.com - November 12, 2009
The chief advisor to the governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Inia Naiyaga, is throwing his weight behind the development of microfinance and small and medium sized businesses.
In an interview with Fijlive, Naiyaga said achieving a vibrant microfinance and SME sector was the best way to spread wealth around to reach ordinary people.
“These Small and Micro enterprises and also the financing of these projects are very important because they are catering for a group of people that normally don’t have access to the kind of financing that you and I have, like banks. So this sector is serving a very useful purpose and the results have been so far, we’ve seen the improvement in the standards and livelihood of people,” Naiyaga said.
“I think the more support and recognition we give to these types of small and micro businesses, the more it will contribute to the economy of Fiji, because it’s widespread, which means that the wealth can be shared to the ordinary people not only to a few like in the big businessmen in the cities and towns. So to me it’s going to play a very important role as we move into the future,” he added.
Last week, the Reserve Bank met with stakeholders from the SME, microfinance and financial sectors in a public symposium where it hoped to gauge how best the two sectors could be developed.
Specifically, the RBF wanted an indication of the progress made by commercial banks as they were required in April to put in place microfinance facilities by January next year.
“We are still working with them on that,” Naiyaga said.
At last week’s workshop, RBF governor Sada Reddy stressed the importance of getting the poor and those considered unbankable to have access to savings and credit facilities, as this would ultimately help in reducing poverty.
Reddy said commercial banks played an influential role in addressing this through financial inclusion initiatives.
A crucial outcome of the workshop would be an Action Plan to guide the development of the sector, he said
Academic links FNPF to poverty
www.fijilive.com - November 13, 2009
Imprudent management of the country’s only public superannuation fund can trigger a worsening of Fiji’s poverty situation, a local economist said.
In an interview with FijiLive, University of the South Pacific lecturer Dr Sunil Kumar said it was important that the Fiji National Provident Fund, being the only form of savings that most workers have, be properly managed as its poor performance or even collapse can lead to widespread poverty.
This comes amid continuing public concern on the management of the pension fund’s massive $3 billion investment portfolio, equivalent to half the country’s GDP.
“I think the concerns that have been raised are legitimate ones and because FNPF is a superannuation fund, people who are coming out of work, who are retiring, they need those funds,” said Kumar.
“I believe that the government and those in the drivers’ seat need to take some initiatives to act on the concerns that have been raised and take some initiatives to act on them and make sure that due diligence is observed in terms of the use of those funds,” he added.
If the FNPF did get into financial trouble, it would mean that those who are retiring may get less money or none at all, which would increase Fiji’s poverty population.
“The management of the FNPF has direct implications to Fiji’s poverty level, as the people who will come out of their jobs after retirement would have their livelihood affected drastically if the fund collapses,” Kumar said.
The FNPF recently announced a consolidation of its investment policy in a bid to cut costs and streamline its investment policies as it continues its struggle to sell off non-performing assets as well as spread its entire $3 billion portfolio in a narrow domestic market.
At the close of its 2007 financial year - in June 2007 - FNPF reported it had just over 340,000 members.
The Fund is yet to release its 2008 annual report
World Bank to advise Fiji on economy
www.fijilive.com - November 12, 2009
The World Bank expects to play a supportive advisory role in Fiji’s return to economic prosperity, a spokesperson accompanying an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team to Fiji has said.
The World Bank’s Sydney-based communications officer Aleta Moriarty told FijiLive she was accompanying the IMF team to carry out its regular economic review that it provided to its member countries.
“This aim of this visit is to analyse the economic situation in the country. The livelihood of the people of Fiji depends upon economic stability. To this end the World Bank will be looking closely at the economic conditions in the country and will provide suggestions on how best to improve the economic conditions for the people of Fiji,” said Moriarty.
The IMF part of the delegation is here to conduct its 2009 Article IV Mission, a regular economic appraisal process that it performs for its member countries, and it announced on Tuesday that its team will review Fiji’s macroeconomic developments and the outlook, as well as discuss related government policies.
Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, who met with the delegation early this week, said yesterday that the Article IV Mission would assist Fiji in preparatory work on an Economic Reform Program that the government has already planned for.
Fiji’s challenge, he said, was to lift its dismal growth rates of below two per cent in the past to five per cent in the next three to five years and the only way this was possible was through reforms in a number of sectors.
The last publicly released result of an IMF Article IV Mission to Fiji was in 2004, where IMF directors expressed concerns about the increase in public debt - which at the time was over 40 percent of GDP and considered too high - and the deterioration in the external position due to rising imports, among other things.
They also urged the authorities then to make “a front-loaded effort to carry fiscal consolidation forward more rapidly.”
November 8, 2009
PAFCO Gets US20m Boost
US$20mln investment to lift PAFCO production
www.fijilive.com - November 08, 2009
Struggling Fiji cannery, the Pacific Fishing Company (PAFCO), recovering from a factory fire last year, is to receive a US$20 million investment injection from North American partner Bumble Bee Seafoods, chairman Peniasi Kunatuba revealed last night after the company was named Exporter of the Year.
Kunatuba told FijiLive that with a Pagopago cannery relocating back to Thailand and another Samoan cannery Starkist toning down operations, Bumble Bee had decided to increase its investment in PAFCO.
“Initially will be US$5 million for a cold storage. But for us to be able to double the capacity, we’ll have to look at US$10-$15 million. So you’re looking at about a US$20m investment in the very short term.”
The additional US$10 million to $15m million would provide for a general operational uplift to enable PAFCO to increase its throughput, Kunatuba, forecasting that the cannery would at least double its current volume by the beginning of next year.
He also said the company was expecting an end of the year profit of $3 million after a fire at its factory in Levuka last year caused finances to break even.
November 3, 2009
SPSE new index
Elenoa Baselala
www.fijitimes.com - Tuesday, November 03, 2009
+ Enlarge this imageTrading session at SPSE
THE South Pacific Stock Exchange has launched its SPSE Total Return Index ("STRI") and it is expected to enhance investment decisions.
Indices are used to assess the performance of a portfolio of stocks representing a segment of the overall market.
"Different stock indices can be calculated in various ways. Accordingly, even where indices are based on identical securities, they may measure the relevant market differently because of differences in methods of calculation," SPSE chief executive officer Jinita Prasad said.
STRI is an aggregate market capitalisation index which reflects the total return from the stock market including the capital yield in price and dividend returns.
The index is constructed on a base of 1000 set at January 4, 2000.
The exchange has been using the Kontiki South Pacific Stock Exchange Index (KSPX) from 2000. KSPX is a share-price index composed of the market-weighted average of the 16 companies listed on the SPSE trading board and is prepared by Kontiki Stockbroking Limited.
"The introduction of the SPSE Total Return Index will now give a wider choice to the share market brokers to analyse the market and advise their clients in making informed decisions and the prospective investors can now study the movement in STRI and make their investment choices as well," Ms Prasad said.
She also highlighted that STRI was constructed to measure the change or movement in the whole of the SPSE's share market through changes in total returns (price plus dividends), also known as accumulation index.
The price index measures only capital gains and losses, and ignores dividends or distributions received, whereas an accumulation index provides a total return by including such income paid to the shareholder.
It follows that the accumulation index will typically be higher than the price index. In essence, these indices are the performance yardstick for SPSE.
Alongside STRI, the exchange will also be maintaining equal weighted price and total return indices.
Mindpearl describes as momentous
www.fijitimes.com - Tuesday, November 03, 2009
+ Enlarge this imageOperators of the Mindpearl global customer care services at work in the new call centre at Kalabu yesterday.
THE scale of a call centre which started on Sunday is the first of its kind.
FIJI Islands Trade and Investment Bureau chief executive Annie Rogers described the commencement of Mindpearl's commercial operations as a momentous occasion, saying it was not only special for the project stakeholders but also for the people of Fiji who will be able to take advantage of the huge employment opportunities over the next three years.
"Once fully operational, the Mindpearl Call-Centre will be used as a beacon for prospective investors looking to explore opportunities in Fiji's growing ICT sector," Ms Rogers said.
"FTIB will showcase the Mindpearl operation to other potential back-office and call-centre investors as what Fiji can offer and that large ICT operations such as this can be more than adequately facilitated by Fiji."
Ms Rogers said it was FTIB's ultimate goal to ensure that sustainable long-term investments were brought to Fiji.
"The ICT sector is one of the key sectors that FTIB is aggressively promoting given its potential to create significant employment opportunities in the short-to-medium-term, while also generating much needed foreign-exchange earnings from the export of services," she said.
"The bureau is working determinedly to establish and fortify Fiji's position as a hub for ICT investments in the Pacific region.
"Large ICT projects such as this will go a long way in achieving these objectives."
Access any time
www.fijitimes.com - Tuesday, November 03, 2009
IN the new year, visitors from Australia and New Zealand will have access to the national airline's reservation any time of the day.
Air Pacific's general manager sales and marketing Michael Nacola yesterday said they were excited about their partnership with Mindpearl, a global aviation contact centre provider. He said there were three reasons they chose to work with Mindpearl.
"First, to improve the level of service delivery we give our customers. At the moment, there are limited hours in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
"The first step in the move to Mindpearl is to enhance the coverage we provide customers," he said.
"When we move to January 1, there will be a 24/7 representation. So customers in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji can have access to Air Pacific any time of the day, 365 days a year." Mr Nacola said by establishing a contact centre in Fiji, Air Pacific was not moving from its original point of contact.
"Third, we want to work with FTIB and other major businesses in Fiji in terms of establishing opportunities of employment in Fiji," he said.
2000 jobs for locals
www.fijitimes.com - Mary Rauto
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
OVER the next three years 2000 locals will be employed by a global contact centre which would have invested $20million by its fifth year of operation.
On Sunday, Mindpearl officially took over Air Pacific's telephone reservations centre.
The call centre received its first call at 7.02am and by 10pm staff members had attended to more than 200 calls from Fiji only with services to Australia and New Zealand to start in three weeks.
Mindpearl chief executive William Pattison said the calls ranged from flight times to buying tickets.
Forty locals have been employed so far.
"Mindpearl welcomes Fiji's national and regional airline, Air Pacific and Pacific Sun, as our launch customers in Fiji," he said. "Our target is to grow this facility to accommodate 2000 jobs within the next three years. "We look forward to welcoming our callers from Australia and New Zealand with the traditional bula greeting as they make their first call to Air Pacific.
"More important, this development will relocate jobs presently in Australia and New Zealand to the Fijian shores.
"We're excited to be part of Fiji's commerce and industry development in what we believe is the next global contact centre hub."
Mr Pattison said they were looking at employing individuals with a good attitude and fluency in English.
"The actual training we will administer ourselves. We are more interested in character rather than technical skills. We cannot train the character.
"The bula smile that comes over the phone is a component we will sell, whether the call is from London or Savusavu."
November 1, 2009
FHL marks 25th year
www.fijitimes.com - Friday, October 30, 2009
+ Enlarge this imageFijian Holdings chief executive Sereana Qoro shares a light moment with guests during the 25th anniversary yesterday
Stakeholders of Fijian Holdings Limited celebrated its silver jubilee anniversary yesterday at the lower Civic Centre Auditorium.
The event marked 25 years of successful business by the Fijian Enterprise formed in 1984.
Chief guest at the celebrations Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said the initial aim behind the formation of FHL was to encourage taukei (indigenous people) participation in the commercial sector.
He said FHL had a portfolio that included total investment of $142million, annual group revenue of $230m and group net assets of $166.8m.
"FHL is a major player in Fiji's corporate sector. The company has nine subsidiary companies and 12 associated companies," he said.
"FHL has ventured out of Fiji and currently serves customers in Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Wallis and Futuna, and Kiribati.
"This initiative supports the theme of the celebrations Growing Beyond Fiji.
"The theme is appropriate at a time when my Government is focusing on the promotion of exports."
CMDA back in RBF fold
www.fijitimes.com - Saturday, October 31, 2009
+ Enlarge this imageThe Capital Markets Development Authority is now under the control of the Reserve Bank
A CONTINUOUS increase in the cost of maintaining the Capital Markets Development Authority's operations is one of the major reasons it was brought back under the arm of the central bank.
Reserve Bank of Fiji governor Sada Reddy cleared the air on this shift and said the CMDA could not justify the rise in costs because it would have led to increase in fees, which could later affect the capital market.
He said when the CMDA was established, it was hoped that it would be able to sustain itself as capital markets was forecast to grow strongly.
"When the CMDA was set up we were thinking that in five to six years, the capital market will grow quite strongly and we were hoping that the number of companies (to list) will increase to 25," Mr Reddy said.
"We were hoping that on the back of that kind of growth, the CMDA will be able to sustain itself through the authority. Unfortunately that did not happen," he said. "The cost of operations of CMDA kept escalating.
"We could not justify it because if that cost kept going up, I think the CMDA would probably have to increase some of the fees, which -- of course -- would have affected the intermediaries and would have affected the growth of capital markets in the country."
Mr Reddy said, however, that he hoped this would not be long term and "that we can always go back where we were".
"For the time being, it has been folded back into the RBF and they are now fully operational in RBF as one of the units."
Mr Reddy also assured the business community that there was "absolutely no conflict of interest in the RBF with regard to CMDA being based there".
"If anybody has any doubt, our doors are open for you to come and talk to us and you demonstrate to me or my management where there is conflict of interest and I will make sure if there is any, I will remove that," he said.
October 31, 2009
Datec seals deal with software giant
www.fijitimes.com - Friday, October 30, 2009
DATEC unveiled an exclusive strategic partnership with international software specialist i-conX solutions after the agreement signing in Suva yesterday.
Senior management from both companies attended the inauguration, including a delegation from i-conX Dublin, Ireland, to celebrate the partnership with one of Fiji's longest-established IT solutions providers.
Datec's sales and marketing manager, Navin Nand, said the companies had signed off on their first project together in the region.
"It is with one of the most significant telco businesses in the Pacific region. We will work jointly with i-conX to implement and support its software solution. The project has already kicked off," he said
The strategic agreement gives Datec exclusive rights to market and support i-conX products and solutions across the Pacific region.
I-conX has developed a specialist billing solution for the telco sector, which allows telcos to make accurate settlements with each other for the costs incurred in handling call traffic between different networks. The software company, based in Dublin with 25 customers in 16 countries, is the world's fastest growing provider in the "interconnect billing" market.
Earlier this year it announced the opening of a regional office in Sydney, Australia, to support its entry into the Asia-Pacific market.
Speaking for i-conX, Gavin Stewart said "We are proud and delighted to have joined forces with Datec as the partnership is central to their growth strategy for the region.
"As the Pacific region exhibits increased competitiveness in the telecoms sector, so it creates the right market conditions for our two organisations to identify and deliver new business opportunities together."
Mr Stewart said in selecting Datec, they recognised that Fiji provided an excellent communications infrastructure and base for this particular territory.
He said Fiji offered a highly skilled and committed local IT workforce, able to support and deliver software solutions successfully. Datec had identified and was pursuing additional future business opportunities across the region.
Established in 1985, the company employs more than 100 staff in Fiji and the region
October 30, 2009
No decision on telco market power
www.fijitimes.com - Friday, October 30, 2009
THE Commerce Commission has not made any decision yet on the substantial market power for interconnection services.
Commission chairman Mahendra Reddy said the review on the issue started in May but no decision had been made.
Any changes in the interconnection rates between telecommunication providers could influence the charges that customers face for using such services, he said.
"It takes about eight months for the review and we're more than half way through in terms of doing a substantial market power study," he said.
"We are about to conclude on that. If we find there is substantial market power then we will have to regulate the interconnection rate."
He made the comment at the East Asia and Pacific Infrastructure Regulatory Forum at the Holiday Inn in Suva yesterday.
In July, Mr Reddy said the commission was receiving submissions online through their website and via email from various stakeholders asking the commission to regulate the interconnection rates between the telecommunication providers.
Some were claiming Telecom, Fintel and Vodafone were dominating the market despite deregulation of the industry last year.
Others had expressed major concerns over the level of services provided through telecommunications in Fiji.
$2.4m write-off
www.fijitimes.com - Friday, October 30, 2009
THE FSC had to write off about $2.4million worth of investments in the last financial year.
This, according to chairman Gautam Ramswarup, contributed to the $36.8m loss incurred by the company.
He said among other things, they had to write off their investment in the South Pacific Fertilizer company.
"We had some investment in SPF, so during the reorganisation of the fertiliser company, FSC divested itself of the shareholding in that company, which was a very nominal sum," he said. "We had to tidy the accounts up and write off the investment there."
He said it included the replacement of old equipment.
"When you replace old equipment with the new, the old is still in the books, it becomes obsolete," Mr Ramswarup said. "It had to be written off and it's reflected in the account."
The FSC suffered a trading loss of $5.9m.
Fund makes $20.5m payout
www.fijitimes.com - Friday, October 30, 2009
THE Sugar Cane Growers Fund paid $20.5million to the South Pacific Fertilizer company for the purchase of raw materials last year.
Fund chairman John May said this was the done as a result of a directive from the Minister for Finance, National Planning and Sugar Industry.
Mr May said $1million given in January last year had been fully repaid.
At the end of February last year, the fund gave $3.6million, of which $2.5million had been paid through a government grant.
Mr May said the fund paid $2.6million at the beginning of June and another $6,556,846 at the end of June, which had been fully repaid.
He said the $6.78million was paid in September.
Last year was tough year for the industry.
Fund changes housing policy
www.fijitimes.com - Friday, October 30, 2009
THE superannuation fund has increased its minimum eligibility requirement for withdrawal under the village housing scheme.
The Fiji National Provident Fund announced these changes as it continues to meet members' housing needs and safeguard their retirement savings.
Fund chief executive Aisake Taito said the revised policy, which comes into effect on Monday, aimed to secure members' interests through loan/mortgage arrangements that ranked their interests ahead of the commercial lenders.
He said it was designed to reduce the processing time for applications, while requiring stringent documentation evidence from members.
The village housing policy had been broadened to include detailed qualifying conditions for various assistance.
These include a minimum housing eligibility requirement of $8000 for the construction of a new home and $5000 for upgrading and extension.
"Our members' interests remain paramount in this review," Mr Taito said.
"The board needs to ensure the FNPF conforms to its role despite the challenges that arise."
Mr Taito said the withdrawal figures had significantly reduced since the last review of the partial withdrawal policy in April.
"This is a positive indication that members are taking heed of our advice to save their funds," he said.
"It is also only fair on all stakeholders to adhere to the primary purposes for which FNPF was established."
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