Push for informal sector

 By GYNNIE KERO

STREET selling plays an important role in Papua New Guinea by generating income and employment, Institute of National Affairs director Paul Barker says.

He said this at the first consultative implementation and monitoring council (CIMC) informal economy committee meeting in Port Moresby yesterday.

Despite playing a role in providing livelihoods and generating revenue for the government, the informal economy remains problematic.

Barker stressed that law and order is one of the major constraints to the players, apart from lack of place to sell their wares.

He said that the informal economy was here to stay and should be supported.

“Some of the constraints facing the informal economy are both bureaucratic and administrative.

“Urban authorities are taking restrictive views towards informal economy traders because they want to protect formal institutions. 

“They do not recognise them (informal economy traders) … street vendors should not be chased and instead, they should be informed that they are conducting their business in the wrong place. 

“The informal economy participants need good vending facilities.

“The informal economy is more than just about buai (betel nut) trade … it is about producers, traders, small scale manufacturers where a bigger proportion of the traders are women. 

Barker said it played a critical role in income and employment generation by providing a big opportunity for a growing population.

“The informal economy is driven by market forces and is here to stay,” he said.

Barker said the three factors identified as having stimulated the informal economy include :

• The reductions in statutory minimum wages occurring from the early 1990s;
• The devaluation and floating of the kina from 1994; and
• The doubling of population to six million people