Paul Barker

The Minister made the comments after the INA director talked down the independent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers that Papua New Guinea can expect around K9 billion in investment after hosting APEC.

“Mr Barker claims to know more than the internationally respected accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and its analysis of investment coming after Papua New Guinea hosted APEC,” said Tkatchenko.

Speaking during the launch of the survey on Wednesday, Institute of National Affairs director, Paul Barker, said these indicators assess whether the central government makes eight key budget documents available to the public online in a timely manner and whether these documents present budget information in a comprehensive and useful way.

According to the survey, Papua New Guinea’s 50 out of 100 is moderately higher than the global average score of 42.

This means each country receives a composite score (out of 100) that determines its ranking on the Open Budget Index.

Institute of National Affairs Director (INA), Paul Barker, said even exporters at some point need to replace equipment and pay for service provided from overseas, or wish to invest further for the future development of their business.

As highlighted in the 2017 INA Private Sector Survey, shortage of foreign exchange is now considered the most serious impediment to business and investment in PNG.

He said more crimes committed recently involved criminals who have been arrested by police but were released but continued doing the same mistakes again.

Barker added that most crimes in the country have been perpetrated by a relatively small number of people.

“Take the latest armed hold ups in normally peaceful MiIne Bay that sadly caused a fatality last week.

“It seems to have been caused by a small gang, whose ring leader has been arrested before, and even jailed, but each time, he is released by the police or escaped from Jail.

That’s according to Institute of National Affairs Director, Paul Barker.

Barker said the 2018 Budget partially consolidates on the 100 Day Plan which, when introduced, sent positive signals.

However, the revenue figures which they presented last week is unlikely.

Speaking at the Deloitte 2018 PNG Budget Debate, Barker said the 100 day plan gave an indication of extra revenue generation, cutting expenditure on wasteful activities, encouraging growth through private sector confidence and addressing foreign exchange issue.

U.S President Donald Trump recently announced that he was withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord, which he claimed placed financial burdens on the American people.

Barker explained that other countries in the world have begun negotiating the rulebook for the implementation of the climate deal.

He said the biggest contributors to environmental reforms tend to be some of those developed countries like Norway with small populations and yet, they have been at the forefront.

PNG's registrar of Political Parties, Alphonse Gelu, last week suggested that electors should vote for parties rather than individual political candidates.

He mooted the idea with a view to strengthening political parties.

Paul Barker from the Institute of National Affairs said a simple system is needed as the current one is too complicated to easily convey what individual candidates stand for.