Minister for Treasury

Treasurer Urges Banks To Cooperate

He was responding to queries raised by Governor for East Sepik, Allan Bird in Parliament yesterday.

Minister Ling-Stuckey said there must be cooperation between banks, BPNG and the Government to address issues stemming from certain anti-money laundering and fraud policies that prevents Papua New Guineans from depositing large sums of cash.

Governor Bird said: “Our small people are being harshly dealt with by the banking system. They are not allowed to deposit K1000 in cash.”

Imminent review of Bank of PNG

Minister Ling-Stuckey responded to a series of questions asked by the Governor for Gulf, Chris Haiveta, in a sitting late last year.

Governor Haiveta asked the Treasury Minister on whether he was willing to undertake a review of the Act, management and the role of the Central Bank in supervising commercial banks and finance institutions to ensure they adhere to government policy.

He further asked if there will be a review of the membership of the board to allow independent, technically qualified board members rather than having industry interest groups in the board.

Treasurer encourages PNGeans to work their land

He said significant funding has been allocated to the agriculture sector, including the K200 million allocation for SMEs, which is expected to also finance agriculture SMEs.

“The government has allocated additional funding for cocoa development, coffee development, and fresh produce development,” he said.

“We’ve also set aside funding for coconut downstream processing, livestock industry development and assisting oil palm smallholders.

Time for tax crackdown: Treasurer

“We have many great businesses in PNG. Some are new and small. Some have been in PNG for decades and are large,” he said.

“I know that there are thousands of great business leaders in this country who ensure their firms invest in our country, who create jobs, who often train our people, who pay their taxes. I want to ensure that those types of businesses believe that the government creates the framework for them to thrive and survive.

Treasurer is misleading the nation, say Opposition

Shadow Treasurer Joseph Lelang made this comment in response to Ling-Stuckey’s recent press statement that accused former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for digging a ‘very deep economic hole’.

In a recent statement, Minister for Treasury, Ian Ling-Stuckey, said after eight O’Neill years of spending well beyond our income, PNG’s debt has jumped by 248 percent per person to have reached the illegal level of over K33 billion.

PNG’s budget in ‘more fragile situation’

“While exposing the budget mismanagement of recent years, I also want to propose solutions. Proposing sensible solutions is part of the work to help retain domestic and international confidence in the strength of our economy and its enormous future possibilities,” he stated.

“As part of a multi-pronged approach to finding solutions, I met with Australian officials in Port Moresby on Wednesday 18 September to discuss how Australia could support the Government of Papua New Guinea.