The Interim government will work out better arrangements for release of funds to the Immigration Department for the purchase of blank passports to cater for the ongoing demand.

Interim Minister for Public Service, Poseci Bune said the turnaround time for the supply of Fiji passports is around 4 to 6 months which comes from the United Kingdom.

Bune said the Immigration Department is currently purchasing 20,000 passports for Fiji whereas in a normal year the Department requires 35,000.

However Bune has told Cabinet that due to the current demands, the Department will now have to keep a stock of 100,000 passports at short notice from time to time as the Department projects that the current stock will only last until December this year.

Cabinet has agreed that the Finance Ministry put in place better arrangements to release funds for the Department to see that it has enough supply of blank passports in stock.