Ian Tarutia

President of the Association of Superannuation Funds of  Papua New Guinea (ASFPNG) and National Superannuation Fund CEO, Ian Tarutia, said this recently.

Tarutia said the current legislation only allows business who employ more than 15 people to contribute to superannuation.

He said this should be changed so that anyone earning any form of income and paying tax must contribute superannuation for retirement years down the line.

ASFPNG Interim President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Superannuation Fund (NASFUND), Ian Tarutia, said a letter has been addressed to the Secretary, Dairi Vele, to look into the issue.

Tarutia said some of the taxation laws in the proposed amendments have resulted in some ‘unintended consequences,’ such as double or triple taxing of dividend income from companies.

This he said will have an impact on dividends paid to members at the end of the year.

National Superannuation Fund (NASFUND) CEO, Ian Tarutia, said the during Annual Regional Employer Conference yesterday in Port Moresby.

Tarutia said following severe financial losses by NASFUNDS predecessor NPF in the 1990’s member accounts had to be written-off. This meant that those funds were gone.

“You will remember that back in 2000, when the predecessor NPF, there was a commission of inquiry as a consequence of imbalance in the balance sheet, as  a consequence previously of poor decision making by former boards and former management, and there was a write-down.

NASFUND has total assets of over K4.09 billion (A$1.66 billion) and manages the superannuation savings of more than 543,000 members and is PNG’s largest superannuation Fund by membership size.

NASFUND’s membership is mainly workers from private sector companies, government-owned corporations, statutory authorities and self-employed individuals.

The NASFUND mandate consolidates Kina’s position as PNG’s largest superannuation administrator.