People struggling to save: Exec

By DALE LUMA
AN average Papua New Guinea citizen struggles to make ends meet, let alone save money, says City Pharmacy Ltd founder Sir Mahesh Patel.
He was responding to the concern that most workers in urban areas were paid minimum wage.
Sir Mahesh said economic modelling needed to be done to determine what the minimum wage should be.
Bank of PNG acting governor Benny Popoitai said last week that between 80 and 90 per cent of people working in urban areas received minimum wages, limiting their capacity to afford decent accommodation.
Popoitai said an urban dweller’s wage was spent on basic necessities for survival on a fortnightly basis, and that savings was an irrelevant concept for someone on a minimum wage.
Sir Mahesh agrees.
“An average PNG citizen would struggle to make ends meet, let alone savings.
“Every part of the chain in the day-to-day lives of people has seen increases in costs and lack of job creation which has added a big burden on the lives of people nationwide.” On job creation, Papua New Guinea Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Ian Tarutia said last week that more jobs were expected to be created when the multi-billion kina major resource projects got off the ground.
Tarutia, also the chief executive officer of the National Superannuation Fund (nasfund), said the national economy was in a distress situation, especially because of a lack of investment. He said the employment level was an indicator of the health of an economy.
Institute of National Affairs executive director Paul Barker had also told The National that millions of eligible workers around the country were looking for jobs in the formal sector, which currently could only accommodate between 400,000 and 500,000.