Treasurer, Ian Ling-Stuckey has reported that a recent meeting with World Bank Vice-President Manuela Ferro was a very productive one.
He said that like many of his discussions with PNG’s international friends, there was intense concern about the growing impacts of COVID-19 on the country.
“Our friends are worried about both the health and economic impacts, including the loss of jobs and incomes and budget revenues.
“Some in the opposition pretend that the COVID-19 global pandemic has not affected the economy, but the rest of the rationale world knows that it has caused enormous damage to PNG and the global economy,” Treasurer Ling-Stuckey said.
He said the World Bank was particularly concerned about “vaccine hesitancy” in PNG and he gave assurances that COVID-19 was at the centre of the Government’s current work and outlined the challenges facing the country.
The Treasurer added that he discussed the substantial increases of 27 per cent in health funding from 2018 to 2021, but that the difficulties were in having the budgeted funds distributed to needed areas.
“Many health services had not accounted for the funds provided earlier, and there were cash flow difficulties. The World Bank talked of the importance of a consistent, well-structured approach to communications that had helped overcome some of vaccine hesitancy issue in other countries, especially in Africa. “
“There was also discussion on the global challenge of climate change. The speech by the Prime Minister at the United Nations was welcomed.
“PNG clearly was blessed with massive forestry and biodiversity richness. The global community was exploring ways to convert these important resources to practical options to support development. This included “carbon credits” for preserving forests.”
Treasurer Ling-Stuckey said the meeting highlighted the Prime Minister’s deep commitment to seeing PNG’s natural resources as ‘the lungs for the region’. The emerging green and blue economies are part of the build back smarter approach of the Government in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is why I have welcomed listening to the views of international partners on how to drive this new green/blue agenda, including the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals,” added the Treasurer.