No secrecy behind K1bil loan: Marape

By HELEN TARAWA
PRIME Minister James Marape says there is no secrecy behind the K1 billion (US$300 million) loan secured by the Government from Australia.
“When you talk about transactions between two sovereign states, nothing takes place in a secret manner,” he said in Parliament yesterday.
He thanked the Australian government and its people for the “huge funding”.
“Unheard before, never done before, unprecedented. A huge funding has come not through normal treasury system that gives us grant,” he said.
He was responding to questions on the loan from Opposition leader and Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah.
Marape said Australia remained the biggest grant donor to PNG programmes.
“Our budget continues to be supported by the grant givers and kind donors.
“For the first time, we have gone to Australia to look at a facility in their finance system for the softest, lowest and cheapest loan on the market,” he said.
“There is honesty involved in government when it comes to dealing with funds.
“We never hide any loans outside government books through creative or dubious accounting.”
Marape also clarified that there were no strings attached to the loan except that the Government would continue to remain transparent and that every borrowing would be made public.
“We ensured that every debt we put as Government of PNG, we told the world of it,” he said.
“It’s a short-term bridging financing to retire the 2019 budget but it is also a facility that’s opening up incredible international partners.
“This facility will help refinance our debt and finance our budget for 2020-2021 to ensure we have sustainable debt and bringing the debt down to our balanced budget in the medium term and that we are able to grow our economy.”