Car dealer watching economy, market

BOROKO Motors is closely watching the impacts of Covid-19 on the world economy and its impact on the Papua New Guinea market is still unknown.
General manager David Lowe told The National that trade was proceeding normally for the car dealer in Port Moresby and Lae, with restrictions of hours put in place in Mt Hagen, Goroka and Kokopo.
“Currently, we have not seen any major impacts on local supply to maintain our operation,” he said.
“International supply was slightly impacted but mostly due to the availability of foreign currency which has already started to ease working closer with the banks which have been very supportive during this period.
“At the moment, we are all still sitting back and watching the impacts internationally and what will be the full impact to the PNG market is still unknown, but I’m sure we will see it develop over the coming months.
“At Boroko Motors, we are looking at sustaining and consolidating the business during this period to ensure we can support and be ready to regrow with the market when it recovers as the international impact continues.
“Corporate businesses have been seen to consolidate their activities in line with the slowdown and working closer with other businesses in support.”
Lowe said the state of emergency had limited customers’ ability to come to the dealerships whether for parts, service or tyres.
He said they had seen a decline (in sales for parts and services) due to the provincial lockdowns.
Lowe said, while customers were still enquiring about products, there had been a drop in enquiries and finance deals because of the restrictions put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus.