Institute’s claims refuted

CHAIRMAN of the board of SME Corporation Michael Mell has refuted claims by National Research Institute that the recently launched SME Policy was not healthy for foreign investment.
Mell said NRI director Dr Charles Yala had misinformed the people.
“If the director of our national think-tank had actually read the SME policy, he would have realised that there are parameters within which certain areas of the policy would be implemented,” Mell said.
“The SME policy’s focus is on protecting cottage industries and small businesses for our grass roots people –  and this is contained in the Reserve Activity Listing of the policy.
“There are five preconditions for a business to be restricted to PNG. They must:

• Require an initial investment of less than K10million;
• The technical expertise required to operate the business must be low or can be operated by low-skilled workers;
• Have an annual turnover of less than K10million;
• Have the number of employees being less than 50;
• Not operate in business areas where the trade of skill competency of our citizens is high.

Mell said the policy was developed through exhaustive consultation with all stakeholders, including the NRI, who contributed toward the development of the policy in 2013 with presentations made by the then director Dr Thomas Webster and Dr Osborne Sanida.