Henao: Business adjusments vital

ADJUSTMENTS by businesses will be vital with the challenging economic trend expected to continue onto next year, Business Council of PNG executive director Douveri Henao says.
He said that commercial properties which were not in demand as compared to past years was an indicator of the tough times faced by businesses.
“It is no secret that business are right-sizing and downsizing primarily because trade and commerce are obviously not running on the levels that the business community were used to several years ago,” Henao said.
“We have had feedback that here has been a 30 per cent drop in sales for the year. This will of course impact investments and business growth and everyone who is going through this challenges are really buckling in.
“Is the trend going to continue in 2018? The answer is yes. But again it opens up the opportunity for further engagement in that local content space.
“This is where I see the large commercial buildings that have been built being readjusted to meet the current business environment.
“Things are tough but that should not be a barrier but an opportunity for business to innovate and be more efficient in operations.”
Henao said land accessibility by businesses was a key agenda in their engagement with the government.
“In terms of land, we have a very progressive agenda on that with engagements with political leaders on land reforms because we all realise that there are massive bottlenecks in the availability of land and it is not a simple fix,” he said.
“We want to promote the existing models that have worked for corporates and optimise them through our engagement with the government.”