of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Following the launching of the Second National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2016 – 2020 yesterday, Bank of PNG Governor, Loi Bankani, said SMEC was an important stakeholder in the financial inclusion exercise and have been considered in the plan.

He said it was a Government priority to boost the SME sector in PNG and has been identified as a key element of their strategies.

The NFIS 2016- 2020 identifies SME Finance as a ‘Strategic Objective’ number six with an access to and usage of finance SME’s.

This is done through:

The proposed law states that all provincial contracts worth K10 million or less must be reserved for Papua New Guinea businesses.

Any project over K10 million is an open market for foreign owned companies and PNG SMEs or companies.

The Constitutional Law Reform Commission is pushing for the changes in the SME Policy in a bid to legally protect and boost the SME sector in PNG.

There is also a push to introduce a legal framework for Papua New Guineans to get engaged in and operate franchises of international brands.

Chief executive officer of Omega Business Consultants Ltd, Emmanuel Masangkay, said this during day one (Thursday, Nov 18^th) of the Certified Practicing Accountants Annual Conference in Port Moresby.

Masangkay said with the lack of basic knowledge in business skills in effectively keeping financial records, the Government’s expectation to create 500,000 SMEs within the next 20 years is uncertain.

“What happened? They simply go broke,” said Masangkay.

He further said “proper record keeping is very important”.