Expert: Mine not giving enough

PAPUA New Guinea is not getting enough in terms of revenue generation from the resource projects it has, an expert says.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tax adviser Vy Tran made the statement during the launch of the mining audit programmes and mine closure and rehabilitation plan in Port Moresby on Friday.
“PNG has a long history of mining,” he said.
“Our friends from MRA told me that mining started in the 1930s.
“So that’s almost 90 years of mining in PNG.
“During that time, the questions has been whether the citizens have seen the benefits from the mining sector.
“Jobs come from mining. But the other question was that whether the taxation revenue has flowed from that.
“Taxation revenue is very important in terms of redistributing that wealth to other citizens.”
Tran further noted that in 2007, OECD conducted a study that looked at taxation revenues as a measure against GDP.
“PNG’s ratio in that respect was 13 per cent,” he said.
“The question is that is that a strong percentage?
“When compared to your peers in the Pacific, it ranked the lowest.
“It was ranked lowest in terms of revenue collection to GDP.
“At the same time, in comparison to developed countries that are resource rich like Australia, Australia was more than doubled that ratio.”
Tran said in comparison to the average in Africa, PNG ranked five per cent lower than African countries.