Law to deal with SWF eyed: Yauieb

A SEPARATE legislation is being considered to oversee and govern the operations of the proposed mineral wealth-targeted sovereign wealth fund (SWF).
This is to make the fund, which will hold proceeds from the PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, free from any form of control or influence, especially political, if the money it will hold is to be used for important impact projects in the country and also to hold savings for future generation.
The Treasury Department-Bank of PNG SWF working group’s report is due for submission on June 30 to the National Executive Council (NEC) for determination.
Chairman of the working group and deputy secretary for Department of Treasury Anthony Yauieb said the working group included in its considerations a separate legislation for the fund.
This was part of his presentation during the domestic stakeholders’ workshop in Port Moresby last week which saw wide representation from almost all sectors, which included the business community, government, private sector, churches, educational institutions, and interested groups, among others.
“The sovereign wealth fund should be supported by a separate legislation,” Yauieb said.
Senior statesman and former secretary for National Planning Valentine Kambori supported the initiative and suggested an organic law for the proposed fund.
This was also supported by Dr Thomas Webster director of the National Research Institute (NRI).
“On the outset, PNG needs to look at new ways of managing the fund … the objectives (of the fund) are important in order to achieve its goals.
“We have made mistakes in the past but we can build on that and move forward,” Webster said when he made his presentation on ‘past experiences of managing mineral wealth’.
Webster suggested three topics for the group to consider: creation of an independent board to ensure compliance with national monetary laws; giving the fund a constitutional status – organic law –  so that the rules cannot be rewritten easily; and putting in place mechanisms that will ensure balance in the amount of money from the fund into the economy and the usage of this money.
Paul Barker, director of Institute of National Affairs (INA) who presented “views on the establishment of the SWF – impact of the LNG project, how to manage wealth from the project” – called for wide public ownership of the fund.