Maru: No need for country to borrow

THE country should never borrow again for any mining and petroleum project so that enough revenue can be raised, People First Party (PFP) leader and Yangortu-Saussia MP Richard Maru says.
“In 10 years’ time, we want PNG to be economically independent.
“We do not need to go on borrowing, we have enough financial resources to run our country, it can be done in 10 years,” he said.
“We must never borrow again for any mining and petroleum projects, the loans are killing us, why should we borrow to invest in a mine that is basically the resources of Papua New Guineans, owned by Papua New Guineans.
“This is a very core policy of PFP, landowners don’t need to even raise equity, the state doesn’t need to raise equity, everything must be free carry, like you do in Malaysia, Indonesia, if they can do it, why can’t we do it.
“This is one way to stop unnecessary expenditure of repaying loans.
“This money should be raised and kept for us to pay for free school fees and hospital drugs.
“For example, New Zealand is a country with 5.5 million people, their internal revenue is sitting at K119 billion, PNG this year’s budget, we are going to raise K15 billion, we need K20 billion, K30 billion, K40 billion to build our country,” Maru said.