Govt works to reform SOEs

THE Government has started work to transform State-owned enterprises (SOEs) into high-performance, quality organisations, says Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey.
He said the move would bolster their financial and technical capacities and with greater transparency and accountability, would underpin PNG’s long-term economic growth prospects and potential.
The SOE reform programme is supported by a K1.7 billion (US$500mil) loan by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), with an initial K353mil (US$100mil) to be provided in 2021.
“This loan from the ADB will be at an interest rate of less than one per cent – just over one-tenth of the cost of the expensive Sovereign Bond issued by the former government and other expensive commercial borrowings,” he said.
“The rate of return from this project will be high and easily cover the cost of the borrowings. We are not going to waste SOE money by buying things that the Government should leave to the private sector such as EMTV and Datec.”