Supply chain issues and shipment delays has seen some businesses in Fiji increasing storage capacity.

ANZ Country Head for Fiji, Rabih Yazbek says in many cases, businesses have spent working capital to buy excess stock to ensure they don’t run short on supplies.

Yazbek says in these cases, it is helping customers to navigate the current tricky times as businesses are taking loans to increase their warehouse capacity.

“Main pocket of lending we are seeing is in properties, mainly commercial property. This is where you have large businesses who have to build more warehouse and storage capacity so that they can stock more to counteract the supply chain disruptions we are seeing around the world at the moment.”

According to ANZ, there are major economic opportunities for Fiji, including “trade up,” which refers to banks’ supporting their customers as they recover from the pandemic.

According to the Reserve Bank’s May economic review, private sector lending grew annually by 2.3 percent. New loans by commercial banks also increased, underpinned by higher loans to businesses engaged in wholesale and retail trade activities.