Loans and advances by credit institution in 2022 was $491 million, states the Reserve Bank of Fiji in its 2022 annual report that was tabled in Parliament on Monday.
The RBF said credit institutions had shown signs of recovery from the pandemic’s effects, with earnings improving.
The RBF said asset quality held by credit institutions continued to be prudentially assessed as poor.
“The expectation is that asset quality will remain affected by the long term effects of COVID-19, buoyed by aggregated strong capital positions, marginal earnings, and satisfactory liquidity levels,” stated the RBF.
“Total assets of the credit institutions sector fell for the second consecutive year by 12 per cent to $722.1m, attributed to loans and advances and balances due from banks.
“Loans and advances fell by 12.0 per cent to $491m. The three main sectors contributing to negative growth included the transport and storage, private individuals, and building and construction sectors.
“Investments continued to increase, to $50.6m representing 7 per cent (from 4.1 per cent) of total assets. Investments remained mainly in Government guaranteed bonds.
“Aggregated deposits with credit institutions decreased by 17.3 per cent to $401.8m, attributed mainly to private individuals, private sector business entities, NBFIs (non banking financial Institution) and public enterprise sectors.
“Total deposits were held mainly for private individuals at 40.5 per cent followed by private sector business entities at 31.4 per cent.”
