Minister Rainbo Paita admits PNG Government poor in paying bills
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Minister Rainbo Paita admits PNG Government poor in paying bills
PORT MORESBY: Finance and Planning Minister Rainbo Paita
has admitted to the Government’s poor record of paying its bills.
He said this in response
to State Enterprises Minister William Duma’s question in Parliament yesterday
(Nov 30, 2022) on the status of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
Duma said: “SOE debt continued
to present challenges to Kumul Consolidated Holdings and General Business
Trust.
“Cash flow pressures are
increased due to excessive cost of borrowing and stressed balance sheets make
it difficult to expand the businesses.”
The news report was published by The National:
MP: Govt slow to pay
bills
December 1, 2022The
NationalMain Stories, Uncategorized
He was responding to a statement by State Enterprises Minister William Duma on
the status of state owned enterprises (SOEs).
Duma said: “SOE debt continued to present challenges to Kumul Consolidated
Holdings and General Business Trust.
“Cash flow pressures are increased due to excessive cost of borrowing and
stressed balance sheets make it difficult to expand the businesses.
“Our SOEs are in the condition they are today due to a history of poor
accountability, poor investment decisions by previous boards and management.”
Paita told Parliament yesterday that while SOEs had reputations for being
unprofitable and unable to render their mandated services consistently and
effectively, they were also hamstrung because the Government did not pay them
what was owed on time or at all.
“Sometimes we blame SOEs but we (Government) are the biggest debtors in terms
of payments of bills for water, power and other utilities,” Paita said.
He commended Duma for reforming the SOEs, adding that the Government would
continue to support the nine entities through major public investment programme
(PIP) interventions.
According to Duma, the net value of the assets of SOEs and KCH was K6.1 billion
as of September this year.
The nine SOEs employ in total 7,100 people nationwide.
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