Businesses suffer losses, seek best ways to operate

BUSINESSES suffered huge losses during the state of emergency lockdown and are now discussing with the Government how best to operate under the new measures, an official says.
PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum vice-president Richard Kassman said business representatives met with National Pandemic Controller David Manning yesterday to discuss a “win-win situation for both parties going forward”.
“We will be meeting with the controller and his team, sector by sector – all business sectors such as tourism and hospitality, or the gaming sector, etc, to find ways in which businesses can continue to operate and conduct their operations now,” he said.
“The industry made a big loss during the state of emergency as the business chamber had announced earlier.
“What we are doing now is to establish a way in which we can operate under the new measures in the National Pandemic (Act).”
Kassman said the business community understood the need to put measures in place to protect the country from the Covid-19.
“That is why we are meeting with the controller to find ways going forward,” he said.
Manning said the meetings with the business community was “to ensure that they engaged with industries in the business sector to assist them with the transition to the new norms under self-regulatory arrangements”.