From the House by Pesi Fonua

Tonga's Parliament this afternoon, March 19, passed a Motion Resolution for government to borrow $16. 5 million Pa’anga from the World Bank.

Under the Tongan law, government loans of more than $15 million pa’anga must be approved by parliament.

The loan, according to the Minister of Finance, Hon. Dr ‘Aisake Eke, would enable government to implement programs that would help Tonga to become resilient to natural disasters. Proposed disaster resilience programs included securing that people will have access to basic essentials such as food and water in time of disasters.

‘Aisake told the House that Tonga has 40 years to repay the loan. There is a 10 years grace period when government will pay only the 0.75%  service charge or interest rate. Tonga then is left with the $16.5 million pa’anga loan to repay in 30 years.

Meanwhile, $233.3 million Pa’anga or 66.7% of Tonga’s external loan debts is to the Export-Import Bank of China.

After the House worked one hour overtime to pass the Minister of Finance’s Motion Resolution, the Speaker, Lord Tu’ivakano declared the House closed until 18 May. On 19 May the 2014-2015 session of the Tongan Parliament will have a “soft closing”. 

The Tonga Parliament's new 2015-2016 session will be formally opened on 28 May.