Govt not in debt distress situation, says minister

The Government is not in a debt distress situation to seek re-financing for its debt stock, Treasurer Samuel Basil says.
Basil said there was also no policy advice from the Treasury Department on the need to re-finance its debt stock.
“Prime Minister James Marape has made this very clear that the government is weighing up its options,” he said.
“The government is on track with its obligations towards the repayment of its debts.
“In fact, PNG can pride itself on its credit worthiness backed by its enviable reputation of timely payments on its loan repayments.”
Basil said loan contracts had legal implications and were guided by terms and conditions that saw loans reach their full maturity.
“Re-financing will incur extra costs if terms and conditions are deemed to be breached so the government will treat this with extreme caution as rightly inferred by the prime minister,” he said.
“We do not want to send the wrong signal to other lenders like the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and International Monetary Fund by pursuing offers of re-financing arrangements.”