Loan comes with ‘nasty’ strings: MP

OPPOSITION Leader Belden Namah says the Government’s arrangement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) comes with “very nasty” strings attached.
“By facilitating the loan of these billions of kina, the IMF is imposing dictatorial foreign controls on our government and undermining our sovereignty through what is called an IMF Staff Monitoring Process (SMP),” Namah claimed in a statement released yesterday.
“The IMF is a very important international partner for Papua New Guinea, but not under the terms of the current SMP.
“The proposed programmes are not properly targeted for the needs of our country.
“This is a ‘one size fits all’ approach imposed on developing countries and is not appropriate as it relates to an economy like PNG that has considerable differences to countries in Africa, for example.
“A simple look at policy documents demonstrates that for the most part these measures are just ‘cut and paste.’
“Our country, and our leaders in politics and in the public service, can manage our economy for our people working closely with organisations including the IMF, the ADB (Asian Development Bank) and others, as we have done through the recent global challenges.
“We are a sovereign nation with our own knowledge of our economy, but the SMP as is being pushed on this government will not be in the best interests of our people.”
Namah called on the government and, especially, Prime Minister James Marape to rethink the whole issue and change their approach before higher consumer prices are imposed on the people which would increase suffering and hardship.
Meanwhile, it was recently reported that the Government was seeking an extra K3.8 billion in international finance to support the 2020 budget.
Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey announced in Parliament recently that PNG has formally applied for a staff monitored programme with the IMF.