The Asian Development Bank and the Australian Government have approved an additional $2.39 million for Fiji and six other Pacific countries.

The technical assistance will be used to continue public sector management reforms in the Pacific as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

ADB is providing two million dollars and Australia $390,000 in additional financing to the program which was established in June last year.

Regional Director of ADB’s Pacific Subregional Office in Fiji, Masayuki Tachiiri says the additional financing from Australia will be used to expand the scope of the assistance to Fiji where reforms will focus on strengthening public financial management.

ADB’s additional financing will provide targeted assistance on specialized areas including economic modeling, revenue diversification, fiscal adjustment plans, and economic recovery road maps, supporting the countries’ efforts for economic recovery from COVID-19.

The program will run until 2024 and was originally funded with $1.5 million from ADB and $650,000 from the Government of New Zealand.