Polye: Costly to do business in PNG

 By MALUM NALU

PAPUA New Guinea is ranked 104th out of 185 countries in terms of costs of doing business, Treasurer Don Polye said last week, quoting a World Bank report.

That ranking must be improved, Polye told a Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

“In an international survey by the World Bank, PNG was ranked 104th out of 185 countries in terms of the costs of doing business,” Polye said.

“We need to accept this as a fact. We can then accept the challenge and through talking together, find the ways to improve.

“This is not good enough, and we must work together to reduce these costs and make for a more dynamic private sector.”

Polye said reforms the Government was implementing to improve business included the establishment of the electricity industry policy (EIP) as a blueprint for developing the electricity sector in PNG,  passage of the Public Private Partnerships Bill, implementation of the Personal Property Security Act which helped small businesses by providing secured lending, establishment of a risk share facility to support expansion of credit to small businesses, and improving performance and governance arrangements for State owned enterprises.