Govt doesn’t have proper system to pay debts: Official

THERE is no validation mechanism to determine what the Government owes businesses, according to the PNG Business Council.
Council executive director Douveri Henao told The National that this was one of the biggest challenges.
“They (Government) don’t have a validation process on these bills and businesses have a demand to pay these bills,” Henao said.
Henao previously said the Government had settled about K200 million it owed businesses.
He confirmed that after a recent meeting with Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey.
“We were given the numbers that K200 million has been paid already – outstanding debts that are not tax-related, but purely on service provision,” he said.
“We found it interesting that the large portion of debts are for hire cars.
“So hotels and other sectors, professional services and others are still being considered.”
A committee is looking into what Government owes businesses.
“He highlighted that there is a committee in the Department of Treasury to look at payments – debts to suppliers,” Henao said.
He said the Government did not have a reliable system which identified service procurements, especially at the thresholds where much of the businesses had been participating in.
“In other words, they cannot reconcile the invoices that have come in,” he said.
“And that has been a major challenge.
“The committee is working on that.”
He urged the Government to work with businesses “so we can provide legitimate businesses, their invoices, related documents, to facilitate that process”.