Bank remains optimistic

By DALE LUMA
BANK South Pacific (BSP) hopes that negotiations on some of the mining and petroleum projects reach beneficial conclusions soon to get them off the ground and stimulate the economy.
Chief executive officer Robin Fleming hopes that talks on reopening the Porgera mine between the Government and Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL) will reach a favourable outcome before the end of the year to get workers mobilised.
He said the bank was looking forward to some announcements on the Papua-LNG soon which will keep businesses optimistic for a return to normal economic activity.
“We hope for the best and we are confident that negotiations that the Government has initiated with Barrick lead to some form of formal conclusion before the end of the year,” Fleming said.
“Certainly those initial signals from the Government and Barrick is that they want to work collectively for a mutual beneficial outcome is very positive.
“We would hope and expect that once those decisions have been made, that they can be quickly translated towards some form of remobilisation of the workforce.
“We don’t want to preempt anything, but that’s our hope that by the end of year there should be an agreement.
“We also would like and hope to see that there are going to be some announcements on the Papua-LNG projects relatively soon.
“Even though that may not provide some immediate stimulus to the economy, it puts the floor under some of the downside news which we have received during the course of the year,” Fleming said.