Focus now is to stimulate economy, says Parkop

National

By PATRICIA KEAMO
THE country is on top of the Covid-19 pandemic and the focus should now be on stimulating the economy, National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop says.
He told a forum organised by the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the Covid-19 had sparked a health and an economic crisis and there should now be focus on stimulating economic activities.
He said people were already adapting to living with the Covid-19 but the challenge for everyone is to get over the “fear and challenges” caused by the pandemic.
“Looking at the statistics, we can live with the health crisis but (not) the economic crisis,” Parkop told the forum.
“If we go into lockdown, the economy will collapse and it will be dire than anything we have faced from the Covid-19.
“We’ve been steadfast and the Government has agreed not to (impose another) lockdown.”
Parkop said he was confident that by the end of this month, most of the Covid-19 measures would be lifted.
He said it was important to get businesses in the city back to normal because the city played an important role in transporting goods to throughout the country through air and sea ports.
“PNG Air, Air Nuigini and other services based in Port Moresby deliver goods and services to the rest of the country,” Parkop said.
“I want to see international travel resume.
“We are the main international port of arrival so I’ll be talking to the government (about that).”
Parkop said the businesses in the city were struggling due to the lockdown.

One thought on “Focus now is to stimulate economy, says Parkop

  • Parkop, how do you know that you are on top of covid-19? The simple fact is that Papua New Guineans have been living with coronavirus since time immemorial because we are used to living with animals and dirt which are part of our lives. Only God knows when the virus mutated and started infecting people here but after all, we have developed an immune system which has been holding off this so-called “novel” virus for some time. This virus has now reached the developed world through China where they have high standards of living under hygienic conditions that are incomparable to us. In other words, they have weak immune systems when it comes to coronavirus or similar, that’s why they are severely affected!

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