Economy likely to recover quickly but Covid-19 uncertainty remains: Aitsi

PAPUA New Guinea’s economy is likely to recover faster this year than its Pacific neighbours but there are still uncertainties in the business operating environment, says Credit Corporation PNG chief executive officer Peter Aitsi.
Responding to queries from The National, Aitsi said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast showed that PNG’s quick recovery would depend on key external factors.
He said this included the release of a universally available vaccine to underpin an overall recovery of the global economy.
“As a tool to help stimulate economic activity, the Government through the 2021 National Budget, has given priority to spending on key national infrastructure through its Connect PNG programme,” Aitsi said.
“It has also committed further funding to the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) sector in an effort to achieve broad social and economic impact.
“The Government’s money plan will require further raising of funds to meet the planned deficit.
“This is a priority task for the Treasurer and his team and their success will be of significant importance in underpinning the proposed recovery measures.
“From a business prospective, there still remains a high degree of uncertainty in our operating environment with no near term improvement likely for at least for the first half of 2021.
“The emergence of variant strains of the Covid-19 in Europe added further complexity to the global response and suggested an extended time to recovery.
“The major issue for PNG business, besides the public health risk, will be the on-going restrictions to the free movement of people, which has caused the reduction of domestic and international traveler numbers.
“We can expect the global economy to be disrupted for a good part of this year, so the challenge for us will be how, we as a country, can best support our business sector to maintain their operations and where possible how we stimulate our domestic market to counter the external factors.”
Aitsi said, from a Credit Corporation perspective, they would work with their customers and assist them through these difficult times.
“As we have done so for the last 42 years, our business development teams in Port Moresby, Lae, Mt Hagen and Kokopo are available and ready to assist with funding enquiries from individuals and companies,” he said.