PNGBLOGS

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 JACK NAIME Another independent international assessment of Papua New Guinea’s financial management has contradicted the spin and deception by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Treasury Secretary Daire Vele and the mainstream media led by the Post-Courier. The report, Poor Financial Management in PNG: Can It Be Turned Around? Is available here: http://devpolicy.org/pngs-financial-management-can-it-be-turned-around-20160112/ . It was written by PFMConnect, a respected international consultancy specialising in developing country financial management. The report slams the O’Neill Government’s financial management and reinforces the criticism of other independent international observers who have exposed the corruption, incompetence and waste that is rife under Peter O’Neill and Daire Vele. Papua New Guinea ranks 21st out of the 24 assessments of Public Financial Management conducted by the IMF last year, according to the report. Most alarming is the fact that under Mr O’N