THE director of the Institute of National Affairs claimed yesterday the private sector is concerned over the Government’s policies on competition in the country.
Paul Barker said the private sector believed that competition would make services more efficient and affordable, in particular in the mobile phone industry, air transport and internet services.
Pointing to the Telikom-Digicel saga, he said the Government’s “instability in policies” was causing concern.
Mr Barker was briefing the media on the recommendations made to the national development forum held last week.
Also present were deputy director Majorie Andrew, Consultative, Implementation and Monitoring Council’s (CIMC) senior project officer Wallis Yakam and deputy executive officer Alois Francis and Rural Industries Council executive officer Graham Ainui.
Ms Andrew said the forum was traditionally held in August for recommendations to be considered in the budget but was deferred to last week because of the general election.
She said the recommendations would be conveyed to National Planning and District Development Minister Paul Tiensten, who is also the chairman of CIMC.
Ms Andrew said she was pleased with the turn-out which included non-governmental organisations, the private sector, Government departments and provincial governments.
She said one of the main concerns raised was that a lot of money was available through budget allocations but a lot was not spent properly and there was no proper audit.