The Trade Union Congress has criticized Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey for devaluing the country’s exchange rate and Kina and have called for his sacking.
TUC Acting General Secretary, Anton Sekum said the amendment of section 55 of the Central Banking Act has left a permanent dent in the Independence of the Central Bank.
“The people of PNG must braced themselves for a sharp hike in the prices of goods and services and all trade unions will now be forced to seek salary and wages increases from their employers.
“The Government is subjecting a lot of families’ livelihood to poverty raising the question of human survival. The damage to the economy and employment will far outweigh positives from these policy interventions,” said Mr Sekum.
He called on the Government not to use COVID and the state of the world economy as the main causes to embark on destroying the independence of the Central Bank.
“Workers' fight for justice and fairness is only been given a boost by these misguided monetary policy interventions. We will intensify our call to action to save Papua New Guinea from recolonization also because we are heading down the aisle to ‘dollarization’ if and when our kina completely loses its convertibility,” Mr Sekum added.
The TUC is now calling on the Government to correct the mess by rescinding those decisions through the NEC and commit to repeal the Central Banking Act amendments in the March session of Parliament.
“Ling-Stuckey and his foreign advisor must be sacked immediately for leading workers and their families to poverty.”