2015 Leaders summit

Maru made these comments at the 2016 Leaders Summit yesterday in Port Moresby.

He said banks are making super profits with 30% interest rates annually and not investing in helping the people of this nation.

He said the banks are closing their branches in the Pacific island nations because they are not making money and using PNG as their ‘cash cow’ to fund their operations.

“Time has come for us now to hold them accountable for charging super profits from our people.”

He told leaders at the Leaders Summit today in Port Moresby that the government has spent a lot of money on the public sector but nothing has been coming forth.

“We will be streamlining many of the Government processes so that we can take stock of what has happened, so that we can learn from the mistakes that we have made and plan ahead and prepare for the better delivery of services for our people,” he said.

He added that the country has a ready workforce, lower cost structure, and strong bank liquidity in the system that can attract investors to the country.

He said is a test particularly for emerging economies that depend largely on commodities as revenue earners for their countries.

“With those challenges there are also opportunities and we must make the most of it so that we can deliver more to our people.

“We are being affected by low mineral, low oil and gas prices, and lower prices for many agricultural commodities we need to put into perspective some of the issues that are affecting us.”

O’Neill said PNG is no different from other countries in the world who are currently facing the same problem.

Speaking at the summit today in Port Moresby, O’Neill challenged them (leaders) to be proactive in seeking to boost investment and the economic growth for the country.

“In the 2016 Budget, we have reduced spending to well below 2015 levels, because we were very much aware of the changes that were happening in the global.

“The Government was careful to preserve the core policies which is in areas of education, areas of healthcare, law and order and the critical infrastructure that we need to develop our country.