Emmanuel MAIPE

East Sepik Governor Allan Bird wants the government to make it known to parliament in the future just exactly how much the state owes in arrears for utilities and rentals to service providers. Governor Bird, when giving his response to the 2023 Mid- Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) update presented by the Treasurer recently in parliament, said the disclosure of such information for consideration for future government expenses in budgets, is important. "I’m not sure how far back a lot of these arrears have been carried by the government, whether these things have happened over the last couple of years or these things go back a decade,” said Governor Bird. “So, it would be nice to be informed and also if the house (Parliament) could be informed on the extent of the arrears of government.” That way when doing future budgets, everyone can be aware of the debts outstanding that have incurred by various governments in the past and its incumbent on the current government to resolve them. Governor Bird's remarks in his response comes at a time when the government has a lot of outstandings owed to service provides, with the very recent matter with the Nambawan Super Limited (NSL) where the State owes the superfund over millions of Kina in rentals of its properties. This matter is being currently resolved with the government team and the team from NSL working together to come up with a better solution to the State making payments to the superfund for outstanding rentals.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will continue to put in funding support to improve the country’s health sector in providing health services to the people. The USAID Administrator Her Excellency (H.E) Samantha Power said that health is another priority area for Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the partnership with the United States (US) is driving meaningful successes. She said for 22 years of working together, both countries have been collaborating to combat HIV/AIDS and other forms of illnesses. “Over 96, 000 people in the capital district alone have been tested, over 7, 000 people have been receiving Antiretrovirals, which are critical for both stopping the virus from causing life threatening illnesses and for stopping it from spreading across the community,” said the USAID Administrator. “USAID will build on the success of these interventions and working with global fund, we will begin scaling them to other provinces that have been hard hit by HIV.” She also added that there is a lack of liquid oxygen available for treating respiratory illnesses as shown during the COVID- 19 pandemic period, where USAID had to pitch in to support oxygen supplies. “During COVID we supplied oxygen to the two biggest hospitals in PNG and now we are increasing that assistance.” For this matter, Administrator Power said USAID is committing an additional million dollars to help health facilities invest in oxygen and other supplies that they need to treat these respiratory illnesses going forward.

Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey has assured Papua New Guineans that the country’s economy is performing so much better than the world economy, because of the government’s efforts in put together measures to protect the economy during a period of tough economic times experienced globally. Mr. Ling-Stuckey, when presenting the 2023 Mid- Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) update in parliament this week, said that the good performance reflects the Take Back PNG stance by the Prime Minister, whereby the government putting together policies and strategies, that have protected the people from the economic downturns facing the rest of the word. According to the Treasurer, the latest IMF World Economic Outlook has confirmed the gloomy and uncertain projections of a year ago, with global growth estimated at only 3.5% in 2022, 3.0% in 2023 and still at 3.0% in 2024. “Indeed, 93% of advanced countries are expected to have lower growth in 2023,” said the Treasurer. “In stark contrast, PNG’s real non- resource growth will reach 4.8% in 2023, higher than the original budget forecast of 4.6%. This is very encouraging news; this is the best measure of how living standards are going in our country.” “Am overall real growth of 4.8% in 2021, 4.6% in 2022 and now 4.8% in 2023,” he said. The Treasurer explained that this is the strongest three- year performance in the non- resource sector since the peak of the PNG LNG construction period. “There is also good news that this strong growth performance is driving job growth. Indeed, job growth is even higher than non- resource growth and is running at 5.3% in 2023.” He went on to say that this is the highest rate of employment increase in more than a decade. “I encourage everyone to listen to the facts. This higher growth is based on the hard work of our people and with this growth, they are creating more jobs for our people,” said Mr. Ling-Stuckey. “We don’t have to wait for the resource projects to start re-growing our economy, we can achieve this growth despite the worst global pandemic in a century and the worst war in Europe since World War two.” Based on these positive facts and growing confidence, the Treasure said that now is also a good time to look at investing in the economy. “Start your SME, plant your new hybrid crops, and go for the new opportunities in labour mobility. The strong growth reflects the opportunities we want for all our people. We are implementing the Pangu- led vision.”

Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey has announced that the Kina is not depreciating or losing its value, to put to rest the doubts in Papua New Guinea’s currency in the world market. The Treasurer when presenting the 2023 Mid- year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) update, said the facts presented in the MYEFO clearly indicated that the Kina is in fact appreciating. “Over the first 6 months of 2023, compared to the same period last year, the Kina has appreciated against the Australian Dollar by 4%, the Kina has also appreciated against the Japanese Yan by 9.3%, the Kina has also appreciated against the Chinese Yuan,” said the Treasurer. “Why do people only talk about the 09% or less than 1% depreciation against the US Dollar?” He said overall, what is called the Trade Weighted Index, the Kina has been appreciated which is actually putting downward pressure on inflation as well. “Let’s base public policy discussions on the facts, not obsessive, disrespectful and personalized allegations.” The Treasurer also made mention his meeting with the Acting Governor for the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) where he was pleased with her view to not immediately devalue the Kina by 15% to 20%. “Her view and that of the board is that it would be too disruptive for our economy." "Instead, PNG will take a measured, steady path back to Kina convertibility.” Meanwhile, the Treasurer also said the MYEFO indicated that inflation is falling faster than expected, meaning that the country should experience decreases in the price of goods and services. “The inflation rate of 2023 has been revised down from 5.7% down to 5.5%." "It is expected to be below 5% in 2024, well below PNG’s historic average of some 7%."

The National Capital District (NCD), Governor Powers Parkop has suggested a more critical decision to be made on the issues with PNG Power Limited (PPL) and it's poor performance in providing energy service to the people. Governor Parkop, who commented on the parliamentary statement on the performance of the power company, indicated that his faith in the country's only State owned power company, has been reduced over time due to its poor performance and management. This has prompted him to say that it's time to consider the final option, which is to sell. He said this cannot continue any longer; the blackouts, huge amounts of debts owed to Independent Power Producers and electricity not reaching the rural areas despite the country going 48 years of independence, is just too much to endure much longer. "Energy is essential to life as we know it. Businesses buy their own generators, fuel and the cost is passed on to everyone," he said. "This will hinder investment in the country by overseas based investors." The governor did acknowledged the government efforts to rescue the power company saying that the plan for the next 15 years to improve PNG Power is bold but the changes must take place sooner. It is for this reason that the governor suggested that the government do a fire sale of PNG Power, selling parts of PPL where the State can get money from and service improved. This means that the state could look at selling out the energy transformation function of PPL to someone else to provide service in transmission, and maybe leave the energy generation and other functions to PPL to do.

The State owned power company- PNG Power Limited (PPL), is on the verge of insolvency, prompting the government to put together another rescue plan to pull it out of its dilemma. The Minister for State owned Enterprise William Duma made this known in parliament today when presenting his Parliamentary Statement on the Rescue and Reform Plan Framework on PNG Power Limited, 2023. Minister Duma said late 2022 the government, through trustee shareholder Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCH), with the assistance and cooperation of PPL and other agencies, began preparing the foundations of the first phase of a rescue plan for consideration by the National Executive Council (NEC). This rescue plan has been approved by the NEC, announced the minister. Minister Duma added that the issues faced within PNG Power are legacy issues that have accumulated over time that had not be addressed fully by previous governments, and now the current government is taking steps to make sure the countrys only power company is up to standards and provides the service that it should for the people. PPL has reached a crucial point where all financial indications show that the company is in danger of insolvency, and requires significant cost cutting and recapitalization. It has not made a profit since 2016 and has accumulated losses from 2013 totaling K593.4million. It owed about K882million to unsecured creditors at the end of last year, the minister revealed. Based on the 2022 financial results, Minister Duma said PNG Power is averaging K76.9million in revenue a month and incurring K91million in costs, which is an untenable situation. Over the past decade, revenue has grown by only 27.61 percent, from K735million to K938million, which costs have increased by almost 50 percent from K768million to K1.15million. The minister went on to say that PPLs audited financial statements continue to be disclaimed, which signifies the view of external auditor that information is missing or does not exist and therefore, the auditor cannot provide an option on the accuracy of the account, which he said is the worst possible outcome from an external audit. In addition to this, Duma said the carried end of year balances are not confirmed, which limits the ability of the PNG Power Board of Directors and management to understand the companys financial situation with confidence and to make informed decisions going forward. Major contributing factors over the past 15 years that affected power system reliability, cost and accessibility include human capacity, aging infrastructure, an almost non- existent asset management program and a lack of capital investment in core assets,” Duma further added. Moving forward, Minister Duma said PNG Power is now embarking on a comprehensive and far- reaching restructure, based on facts established by expert analysis that has continued over the past few months with a methodical approach to deal with very deep and complex issues that have been allowed to worsen for more than 20 years. With support from treasury, PPL will execute a financial and technical turnaround. Corporate restructure is estimated to cost K26million, technical reform (engineering and retail) K155million, with contingency set at K30million. Minister Duma announced that KCH, PNG Power and Treasury have successfully sourced K1.075billion in funding to support PPLs 15 year Power Sector Development Plan, consisting of ADB K720million, Australian Infrastructure Finance Fund for the Pacific K250million and the World Bank K105million. The plan is for these funds to be released over the next 15 years, said the minister. The PPL reform will focus on 8 key areas; Organizational Efficiency Optimizing People and Culture Financial Management Strengthening Business Re- Capitalization Revenue Improvement Service Reliability Improvement Power Development Plan Regulatory Contract Negotiation (Tariff Setting) He said the corporate focus for the next six months will be stabilizing the balance sheet, cutting costs, instituting and Expenditure Control Committee, improving and tightening tender and procurement processes and right sizing the organisation.

The topic of law and order has been the dominant topic for questions and responses in this sitting of parliament, where the question now put forth is whether there will be a real working plan put together to address it going forward. The Minister for Internal Security, Peter Tsiamalili Junior, gave a simple response to this on the floor parliament today during question time when he said the matter falls back to all Members of Parliament and what they do in there provinces and districts. "There is a need for us to be working collaboratively to address law and order," said the minister. "There must be a need for all levels of government to address, it's a holistic approach." He said each province has its own law and order issues to deal with and planning must be done at the provincial level down to ward level. He said from the ward level, leaders now must work together with district and provincial level to identify the challenges and then have the Provincial Police Commander put together an operational plan where the Police Commander can deliver to officers in the districts, so to operate from. Minister Tsiamalili said that at the national level, where he as minister, will work on getting in the funding support and putting together policies to support all law and order initiatives and efforts on ground with police, the Judiciary, NGOs and community and civil society groups.

The shared values in development and economic progress being held with the state and the private sector, is the one thing that must be further strengthened to bring about the desired outcome for Papua New Guinea (PNG) its people. This is the driving force behind the various collaborations between the government and businesses and companies over the recent past through partnerships and forums held between the state and the private sector. President of the Business Council of Papua New Guinea (BCPNG), Nuni Kulu, who opened the National Content Conference at the parliament house today, said that in a time of continuous changes in the business space, shared value must be strengthened even more. “As we are all aware, the business landscape is rapidly evolving and in changing times, business and government must adept, now more than ever, with the benchmark of shared values to define our sovereignty and our ways, which underpins national content,” said the BCPNG president. She said it is shared values that bring all leaders of business together to create dialogue and to create meaningful collaboration to strengthen and build the nation. “In the changing landscape, business values clearly define our sovereignty, and we are keen to explore market driven system at national participation, which promotes our business values.” Ms. Kulu further said that the many engagements, recently with Australia, India, New Zealand, Indonesia, the United States and other bilateral markets, has identified the priority in business in areas focusing on economic growth, on business and on economic infrastructure. “In our key interest to establish bilateral trade and investment rules, our values and collaboration would strengthen these bilateral friendships to make investment into PNG friendlier, and to promote national participation with sound national content model.” “We also formalized G2B (Government to Business) mechanism with the Clerk of Parliament with the hope to continue dialogue with the parliament committee chairs,” she said. The president added that it is through such forums held today that better dialogue is facilitated and collaboration among stakeholders in the private sector, government and development partners to identify partnership and collective action on strengthening the shared values.’ “So you, government leaders, our businesses welcome this opportunity to work with you through this partnership. We look forward to structured engagements and guaranteed certainty and regular calendar of activities moving forward.” T he BCPNG President later thanked the National Parliament for working together with BCPNG to facilitate the National Content Conference today, which was held at the National Parliament’s State Function Room.

The Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) is reminding organizations of their responsibility to comply with tax laws and regulations to ensure a fair and transparent tax system after it was revealed that some employers are not accurately deducting salary and wages tax from employees under Section 299D of the Income Tax Act 1959. IRC Commissioner General Mr. Sam Koim said that employers must ensure that all benefits paid to their employees are appropriately accounted for and tax appropriately deducted. Failing to do so may result in serious consequences, including penalties and potential legal action. Recently, one mining company has been found not taxing the benefits provided to employees appropriately and has been issued with assessment and has been penalized. “Employers, we urge you to be diligent in your reporting practices and accurately disclose all salaries and benefits provided to your employees." "It is your duty to withhold the correct amount of taxes and submit them to the Internal Revenue Commission promptly,” said the Commissioner General. “To assist you in understanding and meeting your tax obligations, we recommend seeking professional advice or consulting the relevant tax guidelines on salary wages tax provided by the Internal Revenue Commission.” He further stated that tax evasion and non-compliance not only jeopardize the financial well-being of individuals and businesses, but also impact the economy as a whole. That is because the revenue collected from taxes plays a vital role in funding public services and infrastructure that benefit all citizens. “Let us all work together to maintain the integrity of our tax system and ensure a fair and just society for everyone.” “Remember, paying the correct amount of taxes is not only your legal obligation but also your contribution to the growth and development of our nation,” Mr. Koim added.

Business owners have been warned to immediately renew their Business Names that have expired and re-register companies or risk an automatic cancellation by the automated compliance system. The Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) through the Office of the Registrar of Companies, issued the final warning and urged them to come forward and renew Business Names by August 31st. This means that any owner who wishes to maintain or restore the same business name after its cancellation, will be required to pay a penalty of K250 plus a renewal of K150. Similarly, the Office is warning directors of both local and overseas companies to re-register their companies during the remaining four-month grace period, which ends on 30th November. Those who fail to do so will see their companies automatically removed from the registry on December 1st when the automated compliance system for annual returns is activated. “Companies have been given generous amount of time to reregister with ease to ensure records are updated,” the Acting Registrar of Companies Ms. Harriet Kokiva said. “My Office will not be held liable for inconveniences faced after your company is removed on the 1st of December.” Ms. Kokiva also advised that the Office of the Registrar of Companies would not entertain future requests to waive any more fees once this transitional period is over. The re-registration requirement is important for existing companies because: · It allows director(s) of any company to take authority over their company enabling them to file annual returns and manage their own records online. The IPA anticipates a clean registry with up-to-date entity records after the reregistration process has been completed. Based on records, over 90% of registered companies show to be non-compliant. Therefore, to boost compliance, IPA has simplified the process by removing the requirements to file outstanding annual returns and the penalties involved. The reregistration requirement was introduced instead. This gives company directors the opportunity to update their company information free of charge and have updated and valid business information available in the public domain. For companies that are non-compliant, a fee of K500 is payable regardless of how many annual returns are outstanding. The said penalty fee relief arrangement expires come 30th November. From 1st December onwards, the annual return filing fee and late penalty fee will revert to normal.

The National Parliament will be hosting a first of its kind National Content Conference with the aim to promote business and state partnership in pursuing the development agenda of the country. The Acting Speaker of Parliament, Koni Iguan said this Conference is part of the Speaker of Parliament, Job Pomat’s, initiative to engage with the business community. “I am pleased to announce the hosting of a conference by the National Parliament in collaboration with the Papua New Guinea Business Council to be held in the State Function Room on Monday 07th August from 8am to 4pm,” said the acting speaker. The theme of the conference is “Shared Values Strengthens and Builds Papua New Guinea.” Mr. Iguan went on to say that the focus of the event is to bring together the business community and members of parliament to discuss issues of mutual and national importance. Meanwhile, speakers for the National Content Conference include the likes of Business Council of PNG President Nuni Kulu, the Director Operations PNG Tribal Foundation, Ruth Kissam, and the Senior Vice President for PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, Richard Kassman. The Conference will have six sessions where speakers will be presenting on topics ranging from business to national content.

The Asian Development Bank is forecasting continued economic growth for Pacific economies heading into 2024. This week, the ADB released its latest edition of the Pacific Economic Monitor which projects collective growth of 3.3 percent for Pacific economies in 2023 and 2.8 percent in 2024. The lead author of the report Cara Tinio told Pacific Waves the growth was driven by a wide range of factors which differed from country to country. In Papua New Guinea, growth is projected to be driven mostly by output outside the resource sector. "So resource here they define mostly as their mining and their natural gas resources. So more of agricultural exports, and services as business activity normalizes with the reopening of borders," Tinio said. She said for ADB developing member states in the region such as Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and Tonga "there is a bit more competition now" following the reopening of international borders. Tourism is at the heart of economic growth for Pacific nations, bringing in much-needed foreign exchange earnings and creating employment. "In 2019, there were 2.2. million visitor arrivals to the region which generated receipts of $US4 billion, contributing nearly 8 percent to regional GDP and directly employing over 90,000 people," according to the Pacific Tourism Statistics Strategy 2021-2023. However, the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 decimated the industry after global travel restrictions began. "I think we are looking at a lot of [countries] still working to catch up...the tourism-dependent economies, especially the ones which opened just recently. I think they are still a bit below than the arrivals in 2019, said Cara Tinio. "There was some negative growth in some of our economies during the pandemic so there were some setbacks due to the economic impacts of the pandemic; so they are still working on offsetting those." Tinio said the pandemic resulted in a "few changes" due to the impact of the pandemic. "Governments had to spend to help soften the blow to the people who lost employment or had to close their businesses," she said. "Given that we do have small economies with narrow bases and revenues may be limited, a few economists had to take on a lot more debt." "Fortunately in other economies they had access to grant financing so there was less or no need to borrow in in their cases." She said a number of the Pacific economies would be looking at options to reduce the debt that they have amassed during the pandemic. Tinio added that ensuring they "monitor spending and maintain discipline in this area" would be necessary for their future economic growth. Source: Radio NZ