Govt settles K200 million debt

THE Government has settled about K200 million it owed businesses, according to the PNG Business Council.
Executive director Douveri Henao 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.”
Henou said Ling-Stuckey indicated that a committee was looking into what Government owed businesses.
“He highlighted that there is a committee in the department of treasury to look at payments – debts to suppliers.”
He said the Government did not have a reliable system which identified service procurements, especially at the thresholds where much of the businesses has been participating in.
“In other words, they cannot reconcile the invoices that have come in.
“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”.