Allow firms to operate

The National Letters

DO not lock down businesses.
This is my message to the authorities.
This is what happens when you lock down business:

  • REVENUE drops suddenly;
  • CASH flow drops;
  • FIXED overheads keep burning cash;
  • BUSINESS owners protect their capital; and,
  • EMPLOYMENT is under threat – wages don’t get paid.

Private businesses, unlike the public sector, does not have a seemingly bottomless pit of cash to keep paying wages.
If the public sector wants a 28 day holiday, it is fine by me; that is for them to assess their priorities.
Most business owners and managers that I connect with are dismayed at the miserable efforts by the authorities to enforce the stated protocols in the broader community.
The waffling debate is all about rights; right to this, right to that, but what about responsibility?
In the private sector, there is no right to employment.
Businesses want their employees to stay healthy.
Businesses want their workers’ families to stay healthy.
Some people would like to keep working, receive their wages and support their families in such times of uncertainty.
It is good to see businesses that have been supported by their families and have taken responsible approaches.
This approaches cover all the measures we have adopted over the past 21 months to keep ourselves and the business healthy.
Locking down business will threaten their survival.
It is as simple as that.

On behalf of SME and
PNG Businesses