Fiji, May 9 -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will now kick-start the process of due diligence to facilitate Fiji and Tonga's request for the bank to raise local currency bonds in the Fijian dollar and Pa'anga.

"We are going through a process of all of the legal, legislative, parliamentary requirements to allow us to put a bond into your finance market, said Emma Veve, ADB's Director General for the Pacific Department in Manila.

She adds the bank's Treasury reached out to Pacific who have their own currencies to explore their interest in raising bonds in their local currency.

"We've asked all of them. Vanuatu and Samoa are both very interested in that - sort of agreed to go forward fairly soon. I think Vanuatu is dealing with the aft...