The French Polynesian pension and health care fund, the CPS, has refused to give the government a 32 million US dollar loan.
According to press reports, the CPS board held a vote by secret ballot, with 12 voting against the loan and 11 for it.
The loan request was put to the CPS as the government is faced with serious financial problems.
Earlier this month, talks between France and French Polynesia on restructuring the public sector in Tahiti collapsed.
The two sides were to revisit the conditions for France for it to release a 60 million US dollar loan.
However at the meeting in Papeete, the French Polynesian vice president, Antony Geros, retracted his earlier undertaking for the territory to sell its flagship property in Paris, claiming that France wants French Polynesia to cower and go down on its knees.
