PNGBLOGS

by WILSON TALAG “For a small country whose economy is heavily dependent on volatile commodity prices to  borrow heavily hoping that commodity prices will remain high is the pinnacle of stupidity.” Smart investors are not anywhere as dumb as the average Papua New Guinean citizen whenever  Prime Minister Peter O’Neill speaks.   O’Neill can utter complete lies about the PNG economy and government budget to the public and people will take his words at face value.  Foreign investors and the foreign owned private sector in PNG make good money because they are not so gullible.  They check things out and what they have learnt is disturbing.  The Prime Minister himself does not understand this reality and continues to present only information he wants the investors to hear.  But the investors are wise to his tricks and overall investor confidence in PNG has plummeted close to nil if the side comments of investors are to be taken at face value.    Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minist

by GOVERNMENT INSIDER The Swiss bank UBS struck a massively controversial deal to land the PNG government with a 10 per cent stake in ASX and PNG-listed company Oil Search.  The shares as you all know costed PNG A$1.2 billion, a staggering 8 per cent of our GDP. UBS insiders describe this deal as one of the "most amazing deals" the bank has ever done due to the staggering 12.3% interest they are earning from us.  This rate is well above an average commercial banks interest rate. Others, however, say the amazing part is that the bank was able to get away with it. This lucrative deal, the PM has coerced The National Petroleum Company Board to sign on an Irrevocable Escrow Agreement to keep our 19.4% LNG revenue in a Singapore Bank account as a collateral to the collar Loan, managed/Controlled by UBS According to the Clause 14.  Of the UBS Collar Loan Agreement dated 12 March 2014, UBS AG Australia Branch will appoint a Receiver Manager to sell the Oil Search Sha

by PAULUS KANAMBO Peter O’Steal, the biggest liar, thief and konman in PNG history, has been exposed again by new facts revealed about the 2016 Budget. He said the 2016 money plan was “a conservative budget that carefully manages spending to ensure essential services are delivered to the people. Core services for our grassroots including school fees and access to healthcare will continue to be properly funded. “Our law and order programs will continue with more funding for police, the courts and correctional services. “Funding for critical infrastructure will be maintained in order to provide ongoing stimulus for business and for job creation.” Each and every one of these statements by O’Steal is a lie, as shown by the latest economic research by the prestigious Lowy Institute in Sydney. THE FACTS ABOUT PETER O’STEAL’S LIES Core services for grassroots have in fact been savagely cut because of O’Steal’s corruption, waste and mismanagement. Education sp

by LUCAS KIAP IS PETER O’NEILL GOING TO DO BETTER THAN SIR MICHAEL SOMARE? Ten (10) years political stability under NA party and SIR MICHAEL SOMARE has resulted in the disappearance of billions of kina (from high commodity and mineral prices) without traces. Will political stability under PNC party and PETER O’NEILL look after the PNG LNG revenues well? Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Peter O’Neill and his PNC party are becoming more powerful than ever in the political history of this small country as more and more MPs from other political are abandoning their parties to join the ruling party and others are lining themselves up for the PM to marry them into his ruling PNC party. Any possible chances of a successful vote of no confidence against the PM are now seem unlikely, at least for now. The movement of MPs from other political parties into the major ruling party is not happening for the first time in the history of this country. When the government of Sir Michael an

ROWAN CALLICK AUSTRALIAN investment in Papua New Guinea's resurgent resources sector is booming, but the risks have been underlined by dramatic events. There was a violent raid on a construction camp at Kikori for the $16.5 billion ExxonMobil-Oil Search-Santos liquefied natural gas project. Kikori is in Gulf province northwest of Port Moresby. As well, the developers have won the latest round of a colossal court battle over the disposal of tailings from the $1.8bn Ramu Nickel mine, under construction by Chinese state-owned giant Metallurgical Construction Corporation, with Brisbane-based Highlands Gold a minority stakeholder. The common theme in both cases is the role of frustrated, opportunistic or worried landowners. The attack at Kikori came at night, when no one was working at the site, so there were no injuries, but a Caterpillar 740 dumptruck -- which routinely costs $250,000 secondhand -- and another truck were destroyed by fire, and other equipment was damaged severely, som

ROWAN CALLICK AUSTRALIAN investment in Papua New Guinea's resurgent resources sector is booming, but the risks have been underlined by dramatic events. There was a violent raid on a construction camp at Kikori for the $16.5 billion ExxonMobil-Oil Search-Santos liquefied natural gas project. Kikori is in Gulf province northwest of Port Moresby. As well, the developers have won the latest round of a colossal court battle over the disposal of tailings from the $1.8bn Ramu Nickel mine, under construction by Chinese state-owned giant Metallurgical Construction Corporation, with Brisbane-based Highlands Gold a minority stakeholder. The common theme in both cases is the role of frustrated, opportunistic or worried landowners. The attack at Kikori came at night, when no one was working at the site, so there were no injuries, but a Caterpillar 740 dumptruck -- which routinely costs $250,000 secondhand -- and another truck were destroyed by fire, and other equipment was damaged severe