Sir Mekere asks PM to answer questions on public debt and cash flow crises
Former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said today the Prime Minister must come clean on Government debt and its cash flows so Papua New Guineans can judge for themselves whether or not the nation is insolvent. “An examination of the 2017 Budget, and publicly available evidence of a cash flow crisis over the past few months, call into question the ability of the O’Neill Government to repay its mountain of debt and pay for its daily operations at the same time,” he said. “Mr O’Neill’s waste, corruption and mismanagement led to a disastrous 2016, and on the information available to me, 2017 is going to be a lot worse. Peter O’Neill is taking the country into bankruptcy. “There is a stark choice facing Mr O’Neill – repay his debts or cut government operations and services even more than in 2016. Either way, he will inflict more pain on Papua New Guineans.” Debt at the end of 2016 was at least K22 billion. This is equivalent to 35 percent of GDP, which Mr O’Neill a