Arrears putting strees on businesses, says Scovell

THE Government’s inability to pay its bills when they are due has a flow-on impact on the private sector, putting stress on businesses, says PNG Manufacturers Council chief executive officer Chey Scovell.
He welcomed Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey’s comments in parliament last Friday that a key focus of the Government’s K1.588 billion supplementary budget was to pay up Government debts.
But Scovell said it had been an issue for the past six to seven years.
An across-agency arrears vetting committee revealed that K5.2 billion was the total outstanding bills.
“We are always happy with those kinds of announcements (but) it’s been an ongoing issue for the last six or seven years,” Scovell said.
“The state hasn’t been able to pay its bills as and when they fall due. And that’s having a flow-on effect on the private sector were everyone is paid late, putting a lot of stress on businesses.
“We understand that there are some legitimate complaints particularly hire car companies but we would hope that they would be paying their accountants and their lawyers and their service providers before they are paying out all the hire car clients.
“All the contractors and some of the business that have been helping with conferences and events, with all of that sort of stuff.
Ling-Stuckey told Parliament that up to June 2022, the Government had paid up K961.16 million.
“As part of the supplementary budget, K300 million was allocated to reduce the arrears stocks, lifting total repayments to K1.2 billion by the end of this year.”