Country in more debt, says O’Neill

IAN Ling-Stuckey has welcomed billions of Kina worth of loan as a treasury minister over the past three years, according to former prime minister and Ialibu-Pangia MP Peter O’Neill.
O’Neill in a statement yesterday said Ling-Stuckey, who is minister assisting the Prime Minister on Treasury Matters said he had welcomed billions in debt from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
“Seeking a new loan of nearly one billion Kina, the former treasurer Ling-Stuckey, has signed our country up to more debt and increasing controls by the IMF,” O’Neill said.
He said IMF, an institution formed 80 years ago following World War Two, was renowned for handing out debt in return for control of borrowing countries’ economies.
“PNG had zero debt with the IMF in 2019 and relied on the advice of a capable and independent Treasury Department to handle the affairs of our country,” he said.
“In just the last three years, Ling-Stuckey has run backwards and forwards to the IMF with both hands out borrowing US$1.281 billion (over K4.86 billion) to prop up our economy suffering from a lack of foreign direct investment.”
O’Neill said instead of building the economy and creating jobs and broadening the tax base over a steady period, Ling-Stuckey choose to have an ever-increasing debt to the IMF matched by burdensome reforms.
“Not content to borrow nearly five billion kina, Ling-Stuckey turned up to the IMF in Washington DC this week begging for another K1 billion to be paid back over 20 years,” O’Neill said. “Prior to this Government, the last time our country borrowed from the IMF was in 2001.
“In 20 years, we had no need to run to Washington DC begging for handouts. Now, we are asking so often, the IMF has set up a permanent office in Port Moresby.”