Concerns over cash circulation in provinces

CASH note quality and the use of the banking system for circulation is an issue for Bank South Pacific (BSP) and other banks that operate in the provinces, BSP chief executive officer Robin Fleming, pictured, says.
Fleming said the most affected were the remote provinces such as Manus.
“Certain retail outlets do not deposit all their cash at banks and tend to use the cash accepted from their customers for direct payment to their own suppliers rather than using the banking system,” he said.
“This creates supply issues from time to time with BSP having to move cash to these branches directly and at its own cost. For security reasons airline operators do not permit cash to be moved on commercial flights and BSP has to charter aircraft to move cash in and out of many branches in Papua New Guinea.”
Fleming said this following news of the closure of BSP Lorengau because of lack of cash.
“Our retail team here in the head office have spoken to the relieving branch manager at Lorengau and they advised us that the branch tellers are taking deposits and paying out cash as normal and the branch is open for business,” he said.
“Our branch ATMs have been replenished and are operational, however our hospital ATM is not operating due to cash note quality issues.”