Call for govt support

MORE than K12 billion is circulated in the informal economy in a year and the sector is the largest employer that needs Government support and interventions to increase growth, an official says.
Department for Community Development, Youth and Religion Secretary Anna Solomon said this during the launch of the national informal economy audit report in Port Moresby yesterday.
“This audit on our informal economy was indeed the first of its kind to be done in PNG and the whole world facilitated by the UN Women,” Solomon said.
She said the report provided evidence based on data and statistics on the status of the country’s informal economy and would form the basis for Government interventions to support the sector which supports, employs and feeds the majority of the country’s population.
“In the informal economy, more than K12 billion is circulated annually,” she said.
“It employs around 80 per cent of our adults and between K300-K500 is earned per week, so the fortnight is somewhere between K600-K1000.”
Solomon said the country’s annual budget was around K16 billion and there was an access of K12 billion circulating in the informal economy.
“In the informal economy, you have more than K12 billion not banked and floating around. The working class people depend on the informal economy for food, money and shelter.”
Community Development, Youth and Religion Minister Wake Goi also said there was much money and potential in the informal economy and it needed the right support and interventions to flourish.