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 PNGBLOGS   Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch have been caught out in a massive Constitutional breach over state borrowings and repayment of the national debt in 2015 and 2016. Their failure to comply with Section 209 of the Constitution means all domestic debt – Treasury Bills and Inscribed Stock - issued in both years, and repayment of that debt, is technically illegal. The unlawful amount involved will be about K10 billion by the end of this year. The Constitutional breach and the failure to acknowledge and correct it highlights the incompetence and lack of integrity of the Prime Minister and Treasurer. It highlights the complete disregard by the Prime Minister and his Regime for the laws of Papua New Guinea, including the Mama Law. The Constitutional breach was identified by blogger Kessy Sawang, a financial analyst and former Deputy Commissioner of Papua New Guinea Customs Service, and Head of Secretariat of the Tax Review Se

by JASON P KANGOMA Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch is scheduled to hand down the 2017 Budget in Parliament this week. Given that 2017 is election year, the Budget is certain to be dominated by the usual O’Neill Regime spin and deceit, along with wasteful and irresponsible spending measures. But the central feature will be drastic cuts to essential social services such as health and education, and further suffering for ordinary Papua New Guineans. Every successive O’Neill Budget has been a failure, creating more problems than they solve, and driving the nation further towards total collapse. This special PNG Blogs report reveals the ongoing damage Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s corruption, greed and mismanagement is doing to Papua New Guinea.   POVERTY INCREASING UNDER O’NEILL REGIME The new announcement by the O’Neill Regime that it has obtained a K1 billion rescue package from the Asian Development Bank proves that Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s economic and finan