Govt to check BPNG’s operations

THE Government may provide a bit more oversight on the operations of Bank of PNG, Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey says.
The Treasurer told a Budget breakfast hosted by Badili Club and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Port Moresby on Friday that this was an issue the Government may be looking into.
“One of the legislative changes made some years back was to make the Bank of Papua New Guinea more independent. That was something I thought then was a good decision,” Ling-Stuckey said.
“Looking back on some of those changes now, maybe it’s time to relook again at that legislation, and perhaps the Government can have a little bit more oversight into the role of the Bank of PNG.
“You might be a little bit concerned and say we are power hungry politicians, but I think it’s time we have a little bit more oversight of it.”
Making reference to certain countries within the region, the Treasurer said PNG could do the same.
Ling-Stuckey was speaking to the business community regarding the K18 billion budget he presented the previous day.
He further noted that the Government was working closely with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address the economy challenges the country was going through.
“On the structural change, one of the measures they (IMF) want us to comply with, they wanted us to appoint a permanent IRC (Internal Revenue Commission) commissioner.”
Meanwhile, PwC’s review of the 2020 National Budget was that the country would not return to surplus in the forecast period which was 2019-2024.
PwC also noted that the budget looked at broadening the tax base, increase compliance activity from IRC, target improvement in the management of government expenditure and there was also indication of continuation of targeting financing costs through the restructure of debt stocks.