Vanimo bank runs out of cash

ONE of the two commercial banks operating in Vanimo town, Bank South Pacific, ran low on cash last Friday.
As a result, the branch put up notices advising customers that withdrawals were limited to only K200.
Customers did not complain openly about the limit until a PMV operator Ignatius Litiki argued with the management that it was not proper for customers to be denied the right to withdraw more than K200.
Litiki was told to return to the bank before close of business as by then they would have enough money to pay him more than K200.
But he refused and instead told NBC Sandaun that it is not the first time the BSP branch in town had run low on cash.
The management did not want to comment but NBC Sandaun understands the shortage of cash at the bank is a direct result of people from the town and the province doing their shopping at the Indonesian trade centre at the PNG/Indonesia border at Wutung using the PNG kina and not the Indonesian rupiah.
Traders at the trade centre have bundles of PNG kina in both notes and coins that have no way of making their way back into the country as trading is a one-sided affair.