Today cabinet has approved a government guarantee for Fiji Development Bank's borrowings for the twelve month period from the 1st of this month to the 31st December this year.

The decision was based on a submission by the Minister of Finance, National Planning, Sugar and Public Utilities, Mahendra Chaudhry.

Chaudhry said the aim of the government guarantee request from the bank is to ensure that the bank's borrowings are guaranteed by the government therefore reducing the risk associated with such borrowings.

Chaudhry said this will make the bank's instrument more attractive to investors and should reduce the cost of interest for the bank. Such schemes includes commercial loans to Fijians Scheme, economic rehabilitation scheme, small business and micro enterprise lending scheme.