Ling-Stuckey wants review done on Bank PNG

Shadow Minister for Treasury and Finance Ian Ling-Stuckey, says there is an urgent need to review the Bank of Papua New Guinea.
Ling-Stuckey, commenting on the bank’s 45th anniversary last week, said it had failed many of its roles in recent years.
“There is a lack of actual monetary policy management,” he said.
“Failed exchange rate management, failure to get enough competition to get interest rate margins down, failure to avoid excessive financing of budget deficits, failure to support growth – these are sufficient reasons to urgently review BPNG and the Central Banking Act 2000.
“The review should explore whether PNG’s Central Bank can maintain monetary stability while also enhancing growth in our country.
“This review could be headed by noteworthy Papua New Guineans such as former governor Wilson Kamit, during whose decade of stewardship BPNG seemed to avoid current problems.
“In calling for this review, I fully respect the professionalism of the men and women of BPNG, and those who have served there over the last 45 years.
“Recent experiences indicate that it is time to modernise the bank and make it a champion for growth for the decades ahead rather than being a barrier to growth.”
Ling-Stuckey said a classic example was BPNG’s failure in management of international currency.
“Foreign exchange shortages have become the most-critical issue facing business, according to 70 per cent of chief executive officers.
Ling-Stuckey said BPNG had a proud history and was filled with professional officers, whom he congratulated on their 45 anniversary.
“BPNG evolved from the PNG division of the Reserve Bank of Australia in 1973, and was one of the key economic agencies to help guide PNG towards independence,” he said.
“The Central Bank Act was last changed in April 2000.
“Recent experiences of economic mismanagement in PNG indicate that a review of BPNG is now urgently required.
“This only started to occur from decisions made in mid-2014 when the governor (Loi Bakani) decided to move the currency away from a freely-convertible one.
“There are questions as to whether he even had the authority to do so under the Central Banking Act 2000.”