barry whiteside : providing fijians with innovative banking services opening address by mr barry whiteside, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the opening of bred bank ( fiji ) limited ’ s nausori branch, nausori, 19 october 2013. * * * director bred bank paris, mr sebastien nahon the chief executive officer, mr satish deb management and staff of bred bank ( fiji ) limited distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen introductory comments good morning, bonjour and bula vinaka to you all. i wish to thank satish for the kind invitation to officiate at the opening bred bank ’ s newest branch, right here in nausori. almost a year ago, i had the pleasure of also officiating at the opening of bred bank ’ s first branch at mhcc, followed just recently by its first kiosk bank in the tappoo city building in suva. you may recall at the mhcc occasion that i had mentioned bred bank had a vision to invest in fiji due to the countries relatively developed market size and appealing future economic prospects. today marks another milestone of this vision being brought to reality. being the only locally incorporated bank in fiji, bred bank boasts strong support from its parent company, compagnie financiere de la bred ( cofibred ), a wholly owned subsidiary of bred banque populaire and the largest regional co - operative bank of the banque populaire group of france. only 11 months old in our banking system, bred bank is showing real signs of progression, currently employing around 68 staff with 100 percent local management. i am told that the institution now has eight atms around the greater suva area with new eftpos machines also currently being tested before deployment. bred bank ’ s nausori branch bred bank has always indicated that it would provide the people of fiji with innovative banking services. the opening of this new branch in nausori is a clear testament of this commitment, synonymous with its catchy slogan “ it ’ s all about you! ” i would like to emphasise that initiatives such as this today also dovetail with our national financial inclusion taskforce goal to reach 150, 000 unbanked fijians by the end of 2014. bred bank ’ s presence in nausori will bring about further competition in the financial services sector in this area. customer choice and banking services will certainly widen. employing around seven staff, this new branch will

savenaca narube : the fiji economy – facing the global crisis summary of an address by mr savenaca narube, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, to the fiji australia business council, suva, 2 december 2008. * * * global crisis • looking at a snapshot of domestic economic conditions, the economy declined heavily in 2007 but is recovering this year, albeit at a low growth rate. the trade deficit is widening and exerting pressure on foreign reserves. moreover, inflation rose to a 20 - year high but is expected to moderate in 2009. investment has fallen. unemployment is rising and poverty is worsening. now fiji faces the global financial crisis. • the imf has revised world growth successively, down to 3. 7 percent this year and is expecting a global recession, with growth forecast at 2. 2 percent in 2009. of our trading partners, new zealand, japan and the euro - zone are in recession, while growth in the us and australia has slowed considerably. • the crisis has resulted in sharp swings in the fiji dollar vis - a - vis the currencies of our trading partners. however, the nominal effective exchange rate remains stable. • the financial crisis will affect us through the recession in our major markets and also in the changes to the exchange rate. exposure to trade in goods and services • fiji ’ s commodity exports will be affected insofar as external demand falls. hence, demand - driven exports, such as tourism, water and garments are likely to slow down. supply - driven exports, while unaffected from the global crisis, are bound by on - going structural constraints. overall, there is likely to be a slowdown in the growth of total exports. • tourism is anticipated to be under threat from the fallout of the global financial crisis. visitor arrivals from the us, europe and japan are already falling, while new zealand tourist arrivals are flat. the australian market remains resilient and is a key source of growth. exchange rate movements, particularly with the australian and new zealand currencies, will further dampen demand. • personal remittances are likely to decline further. • overall, imports are expected to rise. the weakening of the fiji dollar, coupled with higher duty, is likely to raise the price of cement and cars out of japan, dampening demand. on the other hand, the strengthening of the fiji dollar against the aussie and kiwi dollars will lower food prices received from australia and new zealand.