Plans to grow SME investments

COMMERCE and Industry Minister William Duma says decisive steps have been taken by the Government to accelerate domestic and foreign investment for small and medium enterprises (SME) in Papua New Guinea.
This was announced at the medium-term revenue strategy workshop held with ministerial economic committee members at the Department of Treasury last month.
“Our stock market desperately needs modernisation and upgrading. Right now, it fails in its primary purpose – to drive domestic and foreign investment to growing PNG businesses,” he said.
“I want the PNG Securities Commission to work closely with the PNG Stock Exchange to bring in new technologies and open the stock market to more PNG businesses.
“I want to see large, medium and small businesses listed on PNGX, as we see in other countries.
“Our SMEs are demanding that we act to give them greater access to financing.
“We can do this quickly if we reform our Securities Commission and modernise the Stock Exchange.”
Duma said that access to capital markets was a fundamental part of growing the SME sector in PNG.
“There is huge potential for investment if we can connect our SMEs to domestic and international investors.
“We urgently need to reform our Securities Commission to achieve this.
“I have started an international search for a new chairman of the PNG Securities Commission.
“We want someone with the highest standards of ethics and performance who can reform our Securities Commission quickly and get our markets working for our SMEs.”
The Papua New Guinea stock exchange (PNGX) on Friday welcomed the announcement by Duma of the reform of the PNG Securities Commission and the search for a new chairman.
PNGX chairman David Lawrence said over the last two years PNGX had been working to modernise and upgrade the stock exchange to better meet the needs of PNG.
Lawrence said the previous uncertainty about the chairmanship of the Securities Commission had been a barrier to both development of the market and the ability of companies, large and small, to access capital.
“PNGX welcomes Minister Duma’s reform of the Securities Commission. Resolving the existing uncertainties will allow PNGX to develop new markets to assist large and small companies and to develop new products for investment by all PNG citizens,” he said.