A $15.5 million pa'anga loan capital at 5% interest will be made available in May to businesses that were destroyed during the riot of 16/11 2006.

The General Manager of the Westpac Bank of Tonga Mrs Mishka Tu'ifua said this afternoon that the loan capital has been donated by the Australian and the New Zealand governments, and it will be made available only for the reconstruction of businesses that were destroyed during 16/11. She said that loan applications will be scrutinized by a Monitoring Committee.

The loan capital will be held by the National Reserve Bank of Tonga, but it will be lend out by commercial banks, then they will be reimbursed by the National Reserve Bank.

Mishka said that neither the Tongan government nor Australia and New Zealand will make any money from the loan, and "the 5% interest will be only to meet the expenses of banks for servicing the loans."

While the $15.5 million loan capital from Australia and New Zealand has been confirmed, the most talk-about $100 million loan from China remain uncertain.

A spokes person from the Chinese Embassy this afternoon said that the loan is between the Chinese government and the Tongan government, but at the moment they are still waiting for the Tongan government to confirm "land ownership" before they can proceed with the reconstruction work.