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Showing posts with the label World Bank

PNG STRONGLY DEFENDS WITHHOLDING OF IMF ARTICLE IV REPORT TO COVER FOR MISSING K6.3 BILLION KINA

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by PAUL FLANAGAN SUMMARY The IMF report indicates the O’Neill government has overstated the growth rate in the PNG economy by 12.7 percentage points during its term. Primarily by 5.9 percentage points in 2014 and a further 5.2 percentage points in 2015 (see graph below). The IMF indicates the PNG economy is K6.3 billion smaller in 2017 than claimed by the government (and K5.4 billion smaller in 2016). This means the debt to GDP ratio is 33.5% in both 2016 and 2017 according to the IMF – above the 30% limit set in the Fiscal Responsibility Act. The greatest concerns about economic management relate to BPNG’s control of the foreign exchange rate and reserves with more breaches of international norms than admitted. The Governor of the BPNG should explain serious discrepancies between his statements on 25 January (full page adds in the local press on 26 Janaury) and what the IMF report actually stated on 27 January (see below). While commending the government for its actions in

IMF PUTS TRUE COST OF APEC SUMMIT AT K3 BILLION KINA, TO BE FINANCED LARGELY BY DEBT

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by LOWEY INSTITUTE The 2016 Budget was  one of emergency  for Papua New Guinea. Adjusting to a 20% collapse in revenue caused by plummeting commodity prices and an economic slow-down, the government has implemented expenditure cuts  that are harsher  than those contained in Greece’s austerity package. In many ways, the 2016 Budget was the one PNG had to have. While commentators, including myself, have questioned the severity and the way in which cuts have been made, all agree the government could not keep spending at the pace it has been given the collapse in revenue and rapid increases in public debt. But will expenditure actually slow? And what is the true level of public debt in PNG? We can shed some light on these questions by focusing on a specific, big-ticket item of expenditure: PNG’s hosting of the APEC leaders’ meeting in 2018. Port Moresby is going through a massive transformation in preparation for this event, driven by a confusing mixture of public, private and

PNG CREDIT RATINGS TANK WITH O'NEILL'S TUCKER BOX TYPE ECONOMIC POLICY

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by FRANK KALUWIN PNG credit rating has been downgraded from B+ during the tenure of the National Alliance Party, To B- recently now B1 to B2, Even the Bank Of New York had withdrawn their Guarantee for Papua New Guinea. The World Bank is not stupid, they will not lend money to PNG because they know, as soon as the money lands on the PNG shores, Peter O'Neill open his back doors to benefit himself more than the country. However, the World Bank group will want to fund interventions directly instead just hand it over, that is if they do. If the World Bank  Group agree to loan the money; there will be no DSIP/PSIP for the MPs, we will then see the real colors as why all Members of Parliament  can't leave Peter O'Neill. Moody's Investors Service has today (25th April 2016) downgraded the Government of Papua New Guinea's (PNG) foreign currency and local currency issuer ratings to B2 from B1. The outlook on these ratings is stable. This concludes the review for

O'NEILL GOVERNMENT PASSED THE 2016 BUDGET WITH MADE UP OR FALSE FIGURES, INACCURATE AND MANIPULATED DATA AND STATISTICS

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by GOVERNMENT INSIDER In a meeting with some World Bank people and some former Ausaid Consultants to PNG, this is what they had to say about PNG parliamentarians and the current government's management of the economy. They say, 99% of our parliamentarians are economically and financial illiterate. For example; They do not have any idea about the UBS Loan or the LR Generator deal, or even the importance of the 2016 budget document, as such no one is capable of debating the nitty gritty ties of such enormous financial transactions and legislations provocatively.  They even don't care about the economic implications befalling from such decisions. Therefore PNG Parlaiment under the current regime lacks good governance. What a shame? The other thing, they said there is no prudential Management of the PNG economy by the Peter O'Neill government, they said the current government manipulated fundamental data and statistics on the real GDP, a sign shown by the 2015 budget outcom

THE KING OF LIARS DOES IT AGAIN!

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by MICHAEL J. PASSINGAN On 21 March, at the PNC fund-raising – also known as the greatest gathering of thieves on earth – the Prime Minister boasted about PNG having an annual GDP growth rate of 9.2%. He said Papua New Guinea’s growth rate is the envy of many world economies – “9.2% is miles better than the global average, which is about 3% or less”.  LIES LIES LIES!  PNG’s annual GDP growth rate is 4.3%, according to the 2016 Budget papers, Volume 1, Table 1, page 107. Even worse, Treasury predicts annual GDP growth to fall to less than 3% for 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the 2016 Budget papers, Volume 1, Chart 13 page 12.  This chart also demonstrates how O’Neill has wrecked the non-mining sectors – mainly agriculture, on which 90% of the people depend for their livelihood. His mad policies and his greed have reduced non-mining GDP growth from a high of 12% per annum in 2011 to about 3% per annum now.  MORE LIES!  He also told his dinner companions - PNC konman cr

INTERNATIONAL BONDS MARKETS AND BANKS DON'T TRUST O'NEILL LIES AFTER SOVEREIGN BOND FAILURE

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by MICHAEL JOSEPH PASSINGAN On 17 March PNG Blogs revealed that Peter O’Neill has secretly begged the World Bank for a loan of up to K1 billion. On 22 March we revealed that international agencies are about to downgrade Papua New Guinea’s credit rating once again – after already being downgraded late last year. Now some good news – the economy and national finances have been damaged so badly by O’Neill’s reckless borrowing and wasteful spending that his proposed $US1 billion sovereign bond issue is dead - D.E.A.D. This is good news because it means the nation’s indebtedness will not increase by $US1 billion in the immediate future. It means the long-suffering people will not have more debt to repay each year. IT MEANS THERE WON’T BE $US1 BILLION FOR O’NEILL TO STEAL AND WASTE The failure of the bond issue proves that international money markets won’t lend a toea to O’Neill’s corrupt regime unless it is at unaffordable penalty interest rates. Such unaffordable interest

PNG SHOULD BRACE FOR A LOOMING FINANCIAL CRISES - MORAUTA

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by SIR MEKERE MORAUTA   Papua New Guinea needs to take urgent action to save itself from a looming economic and financial storm, former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said today. Sir Mekere, an economist and former head of Treasury, the Bank of Papua New Guinea and other institutions, said the nation cannot continue on its present course. “The Prime Minister has had plenty of warning from his own expert advisers in Treasury and from eminent foreign institutions and observers,” Sir Mekere said. “Good senior people in Treasury have been side-lined or sacked, or shipped out if a foreigner. Anyone who raises concerns suffers personal attack from the Prime Minister. “Or, as with the peaceful protestors who gathered at Unagi Oval on 26 October, being set upon and bashed up by the Police, no doubt on orders from above. “He has ignored all advice, and now the nation is suffering the consequences.” The latest warnings come from the international ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S

Why is the World Bank washing its hands of PMIZ?

PNGEXPOSED The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank, has recently published an information sheet about its support for the development of Special Economic Zones in Papua New Guinea. The information sheet concludes with remarks about the proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang. “Is IFC involved with the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone? No” says the information sheet Then, to make it quite clear, it reiterates “IFC has not been involved with any of the arrangements for the PMIZ.” This is a far cry from the information the  IFC was putting out in June 2009 when it confidently declared its SEZ strategy for PNG… will also address the government’s plan to establish the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone promoting investment in onshore processing of regionally caught tuna.  The project made an important step forward yesterday when the PMIZ project’s National Management Committee and Technical Working Group, along with IFC representatives and members of t

Why is the World Bank washing its hands of PMIZ?

PNGEXPOSED The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank, has recently published an information sheet about its support for the development of Special Economic Zones in Papua New Guinea. The information sheet concludes with remarks about the proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang. “Is IFC involved with the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone? No” says the information sheet Then, to make it quite clear, it reiterates “IFC has not been involved with any of the arrangements for the PMIZ.” This is a far cry from the information the  IFC was putting out in June 2009 when it confidently declared its SEZ strategy for PNG… will also address the government’s plan to establish the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone promoting investment in onshore processing of regionally caught tuna.  The project made an important step forward yesterday when the PMIZ project’s National Management Committee and Technical Working Group, along with IFC representatives and members of

"ALERT" World Bank Planning on Drafting New Laws for PNG.

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PNGEXPOSED We alerted readers several days ago to the malevolent plans of the World Bank to push for the establishment of sweat shop factories in Papua New Guinea [ read more ]. Now the Bank has gone public with its intentions, advertising in the media for a lawyer to draft the legislation that will allow the establishment of Special Economic Zones. Apparently oblivious to the blatant Colonial implications and completely contemptuous of Papua New Guinea’s own democratic procedures, the World Bank is advertising for a lawyer to draft legislation for Papua New Guinea before Parliament has even debated whether such legislation is desirable or needed. Normal process would dictate that should Parliament decide Special Economic Zones are a good idea then it would be the job of Papua New Guinea’s public service to draft a policy and subsequent legislation. But the World Bank clearly has no time for such niceties and is happy to run a bulldozer through notions of independence and

"ALERT" World Bank Planning on Drafting New Laws for PNG.

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PNGEXPOSED We alerted readers several days ago to the malevolent plans of the World Bank to push for the establishment of sweat shop factories in Papua New Guinea [ read more ]. Now the Bank has gone public with its intentions, advertising in the media for a lawyer to draft the legislation that will allow the establishment of Special Economic Zones. Apparently oblivious to the blatant Colonial implications and completely contemptuous of Papua New Guinea’s own democratic procedures, the World Bank is advertising for a lawyer to draft legislation for Papua New Guinea before Parliament has even debated whether such legislation is desirable or needed. Normal process would dictate that should Parliament decide Special Economic Zones are a good idea then it would be the job of Papua New Guinea’s public service to draft a policy and subsequent legislation. But the World Bank clearly has no time for such niceties and is happy to run a bulldozer through notions of independence and

IFC'S US$140M SPLASH IN BSP, IS THERE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST?

By: Dionisia Tabureguci of ISLAND BUSINESS It wasn’t too long ago that a partnership between the World Bank and its sister organisation the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in some countries in the region was frowned upon. Critics called it a ‘conflict of interest’. Through multi-million dollar loans, the IFC—the World Bank’s private sector financing arm—was funding the Pacific expansion of Irish-owned Digicel. At the same time, the World Bank was offering policy and technical assistance to governments in the region interested in opening up their telecommunications market. Words like “double standard” and “inappropriate” were used to describe their involvement in the Pacific’s telecommunication market. The World Bank’s Country Director for Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Pacific at the time, Nigel Roberts, had to defend the organisations’ involvements as independent of each other. “The process we’re involved in on the Wo

IFC'S US$140M SPLASH IN BSP, IS THERE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST?

By: Dionisia Tabureguci of ISLAND BUSINESS It wasn’t too long ago that a partnership between the World Bank and its sister organisation the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in some countries in the region was frowned upon. Critics called it a ‘conflict of interest’. Through multi-million dollar loans, the IFC—the World Bank’s private sector financing arm—was funding the Pacific expansion of Irish-owned Digicel. At the same time, the World Bank was offering policy and technical assistance to governments in the region interested in opening up their telecommunications market. Words like “double standard” and “inappropriate” were used to describe their involvement in the Pacific’s telecommunication market. The World Bank’s Country Director for Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Pacific at the time, Nigel Roberts, had to defend the organisations’ involvements as independent of each other. “The process we’re involved in on the