Chancellor of the PNG University of Technology, Sir Nagora Bogan, will be speaking in Australia next month about the tax reforms recommended in the Independent Tax Review Committee’s (TRC) reports of 2015.
Sir Bogan will be speaking at the Australian National University’s Barton Theatre on December 8th where he will cover the TRC’s comprehensive review of the country’s tax system and the reports which were formally presented to the PNG Government in November, 2015.
The reports included significant economic and tax reform recommendations as well as the high risks of PNG’s overdependence on the extractive sector. It also talks about PNG’s vulnerability to the cyclical vagaries of global commodities pricing and recommended a ‘paradigm shift’ in the governance, management and stimulation of sustainable economic development.
And with the sudden drop in the oil price, resulting in fiscal distress, lack of foreign exchange, and economic slowdown, the country’s vulnerability has become more pronounced.
The tax reforms provide an opportunity for the strategic transformation of PNG and the report provides some realistic and practical policy, legal, institutional and structural improvements to mitigate economic risk and vulnerability.
This is by diversifying the economic base to more sustainable sectors like agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism.
The seminar is presented as part of the Development Policy Centre’s PNG Project, which receives funding from the Australian Aid Program through the Pacific Governance and Leadership Precinct.