The Chinese Grant Trust Fund held by the Prime Minister’s office financed eight community-related projects during the 2024 financial year, but overall activity through the account fell sharply, the latest Audit Report on the General Administration Sector shows. The audit, covering the year to July 31, 2024, records a steep drop in both receipts into the fund and payments made from it compared with the previous year.
The report says the trust fund is used to manage grants provided by the Chinese Government to the Fiji Government via bilateral letters of exchange and is primarily tapped to meet community requests approved by the Prime Minister. Funds are directed to initiatives outside the national budget, including education, integrated village and settlement development, youth programmes, and support for women’s and minority group settlements. The approving authority for any assistance under the trust fund is the Prime Minister, currently Sitiveni Rabuka, the audit notes.
Audit figures show total receipts into the account were just $263 for the year ending July 31, 2024, a dramatic fall from $42,652 in the 2023 financial year. The 2023 total included $42,347 classified as Indonesian Cash in Kind Project Assistance, an item the audit highlights in comparing the two years. Payments from the fund in 2024 totalled $22,028, down from $71,606 the previous year — a reduction of $49,578, or 69 percent, which the report attributes to lower costs for community projects in 2024.
While the audit lists eight projects funded during the year, it itemises four specific payments: $10,000 for the Remembrance Day Royal Service, $5,000 for assistance to Vanuabalavu, $5,000 for the Nagonicolo Scholarship Fund Assistance, and $2,000 for Naroi Village assistance. The report contrasts these with projects funded in 2023, which included support for the Salusalu Domoni Band, construction of an ablution block at Vunirara House on Bau, assistance to Nasava Village and sports assistance for the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.
Despite the fall in annual activity, the trust fund retained a substantial balance. The closing balance was $253,895 as at July 31, 2024, down from $275,660 a year earlier. The audit does not attribute the closing balance change to any single factor beyond the lower inflows and reduced project payments recorded for the year.
The audit’s disclosure provides fresh detail on how the Prime Minister’s discretionary trust is being used to channel externally sourced grants into community-level projects, and it highlights volatility in receipts and disbursements between financial years. With the fund outside the national budget and controlled by the Prime Minister’s office, the audit’s figures offer a rare public snapshot of the scale and targets of these bilateral grant flows into Fiji’s communities.