The Member for Sinasina- Yongamugl, Kerenga Kua is concerned that fuel distributor Puma Energy PNG Limited continues to hold the country to ransom with its tactic of rationing fuel and even shutting down its services when faced with third party issues regarding its access to Forex to purchase fuel. Speaking at the recent press conference in Port Moresby city after his official resignation from the government, the former Petroleum and Energy Minister said while he was an active minister in the Marape- Rosso Government dealing with Puma, he warned the fuel company to refrain from doing that and speak to the authorities, including the government to resolve the matter first instead of opting to stop its services to get what they want. “They have a tendency to shut down operations before talking to authorities and sometimes, I think it's deliberate,” said the Member of Parliament (MP). They know that and I think in the past they deliberately exploit that. I told them don’t shut down, before you shut down you talk to us first and if we disagree, you can get a court order.” "Once you stand on the basis of a court order, you are acting with the authority of the court. Don’t do this on your own coalition, unilaterally make decision, impose on the public and then force the government’s hand.” Mr. Kua said this action could be seen as holding the government to ransom, which is extortion and sometimes, it could be seen as treason because of what this action could create, like a civil unrest that could lead to a potential bring down of the government of the day. “They got to be careful, they got to demonstrate their corporate citizenship in this country.” He said the country is now facing another such situation with Puma opting to rationing its fuel supply and restricting its services in light of the closure of its accounts with BSP, and even though they are in the process of transitioning to another commercial bank in the country to open their accounts, Puma continues to restrict its services. Nevertheless, the MP did give his recommendations to the government on handling this matter carefully going forward, upon his exit as the Minister responsible for Petroleum and Energy. His recommendations include the government to remain focus on this issue and fund Puma properly to avert another round of fuel emergencies, and for the government to massage Puma into selling out its entire PNG business to a third party because Puma’s business has become unacceptable to the Bank of Papua New Guinea and the major commercial banks in country.

The deadline for the closure of Puma Energy PNG bank accounts with the BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) has been extended to give enough time for Puma to transit to doing business with another commercial bank. At the request of the National Government, BSP has agreed to provide Puma a further 90-day extension from the 8th of March, 2024, for the closure of its accounts. This action was in response to a request dated 25th January, 2024, from Prime Minister (PM) James Marape. This extension has been granted on the basis that additional time is required for Puma to complete transferring its banking requirements to another commercial bank in the country. Another reason for BSP to grant this extension was the consideration of the disruptions in normal business operations for other banks, financial institutions, and the business community at large following the civil unrest that affected many parts of the nation between the 10th and 11th of January. As a licensed bank in Papua New Guinea, BSP has an obligation to strictly comply with all regulatory requirements. BSP has complied with its regulatory and contractual obligations in making the decision to cease banking relationship with Puma. Puma has been offered all assistance to ensure a smooth transition to a new bank as part of BSP’s commitment to minimizing the impact on the people of PNG. BSP has urged Puma to act responsibly during this extension period and finalize alternate banking arrangements.

The Member for Sinasina- Yongamugl, Mr. Kerenga Kua after resigning as a State Minister from the government yesterday, gave a stunning revelation of the Puma Energy PNG’s situation and its issues that are being experienced in the country, even right now. Mr. Kua revealed that while as the Minister for Petroleum and Energy in the Marape- Rosso Government, he had recommended that Puma Energy PNG closes its operations in Papua New Guinea because it is bound to be doomed due to its failing situation with regards to the closure of its bank accounts with the major commercial banks and its inability to purchase fuel and satisfying the domestic demand for fuel due to Forex issues. “This problem emerged in July last year and an emergency was declared on fuel supply in Papua New Guinea under various legislations I was responsible for,” said the Member of Parliament (MP). “I took it through and we tried to understand what the underlining reason for the disagreement between the commercial banks, Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) and Puma as the supplier of both general and aviation fuel.” What was discovered was apparently something to do with Puma’s invoicing system to BPNG for the US Dollars foreign currency, which Mr. Kua said was one of the main problem. “The Central Bank has got questions about the integrity of those claims of foreign exchange, those invoices. On top of that the local commercial banks are also under pressure from correspondent banks from overseas.” He explained that every bank in the country has a relationship with an overseas company, it’s an official relationship called the Correspondent Bank Relationship, which is to make sure that international transactions are conducted through that relationship. “The pressure for the local banks to shutdown Puma’s accounts is also coming from the overseas correspondent banks, we don’t know the grounds but the pressure is there.” The MP said ANZ bank and Westpac bank have closed Puma accounts already and Puma is operating on its BSP account only, but BSP has given notice to close that account. That notice was given last year on the 08th of June to Puma that the account will close on the 08th of September 2023. “But when we introduced the state of emergency, I on behalf of the government asked for an extension and it was extended to the 08th of March this year. So, Puma’s ability to operate is still there up to the 08th of March,” said Mr. Kua. “Now in the interim, we’ve tried to ask Bank of Papua New Guinea and BSP to reconcile their difference and I can tell you now that it’s irreconcilable. Also, the correspondent banks demands for the closure of Puma accounts are also there. So, BSP has no choice and apparently Bank of Papua New Guinea has no choice, so what do we do?” Kua said Puma is running out of options and he recommended that the fuel company sell out. “I said it’s time to shut down your business in PNG. Do it in an orderly manner, and don’t interfere with supply (fuel supply) itself. Maintain your orders, maintain the distribution, at the same time you put your business on sale.” He concluded by saying that Puma Energy shouldn’t hold the country to ransom with the fuel supply rationing or stoppage, and that it should start making efforts to transit and allow another distributor to take up the business going forward.

The Member for Sinasina- Yongamugl, Kerenga Kua has resigned from the government as a State Minister for Petroleum and Energy, to join the other Members of Parliament (MP) who have resigned following Black Wednesday riots, citing poor government decisions and policies by the prime minister as the reason for him moving out. In his letter of official resignation to the prime minister, Kua highlighted his reasons for his decision to resign, they include the poor handling of the Papua LNG (PLNG) project the PLNG Landowner matters and also the handling of the Puma Energy PNG matter, of which he was the minister who was dealing with these matters before resigning. The resigned minister has also put in recommendations in his letter to Prime Minister (PM) James Marape and his cabinet to consider going forward with relation to this major project and other pressing issues. He wants to see that the PLNG landowners get benefit sharing, is covered properly so that the benefit is distributed to the people accordingly as per the promise by the government. Others include the better handing of upcoming gas projects like Pasca and P’nyang gas projects. Meanwhile, fellow Simbu MP, the MP for Chuave Mr. James Nomane is glad that Kua resigned from the government. He applauded the MP for seeing the wrongs of the Marape- Rosso Government and trying to do something to make drastic changes going forward. “I applaud and support my minister (former) for his stance, which is a for Papua New Guinea position, to say that what’s happening here is not right and I’m a hundred per cent in support of the decision he has taken this morning. It’s not only for himself or Simbu, but for the country,” said Mr. Nomane. Kua now joins the MP for Hiri- Koiari Kieth Iduhu, MP for Abau Sir Puka Temu, MP for Ijivitari David Arore, and MP James Nomane who resigned earlier from the government team. The members are now urging the other MPs to follow them in a move that could lead to another Vote of No Confidence on the PM.

Prime Minister James Marape has announced that a Commission of Inquiry (COI) will now be carried out in the police and Finance and Treasury departments follow the end of the 14 days State of Emergency. Marape said the inquiry will look into the command structure of the police and address areas that need addressing so to improve the overall structure of the police force. Marape said David Manning has been reinstated as Police Commissioner and has been tasked to work with the COI; however, the Commissioner will be subject to the COI as well. "This is to ensure that there is a well structured police force into the future that has a good command structure in place." For the Finance and Treasury departments the Alesco Payroll system will be looked at and whether there should be better chances going forward as well. The PM said the COI will be headed by a senior judge from the Judicial Services of the country and Terms of Reference (TOR) for the COI will be released soon for the public to know. Meanwhile, Marape said although the COI comes after the lapse of the SOE, the military call will remain at this time where the members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force will continue to assist police deal with lawbreakers.

The recently reinstated Minster for Foreign Affairs, Justin Tkatchenko, says his first task back in office is to regain the international community’s confidence in Papua New Guinea (PNG) through certain priorities that he has put forth. Minister Tkatchenko, who was reinstated last week Friday, outlined in a statement a priority list for the department - an immediate work-plan of the Marape-Rosso Government with particular emphasis on international community confidence, following the events of Wednesday January 10th. Minister Tkatchenko said that paramount to this immediate and priority list for Foreign Affairs, is to reinstill and regain the confidence of the international community and organisations. “My main objective is to bring back confidence to the international communities, organisations and those who live in PNG, and making sure that they understand and have all crucial and important information in relation to the national government’s approach in dealing with the aftermath of the recent riots in Port Moresby and the country.” “It took one day to destroy all our hard work, and the effort we put in for the last 16 months, but we are resilient, we will turn this around and come back bigger and better. The minister said the job now is to bring back the confidence of the international communities and giving them assurance through the implementation of the government’s policies and reforms in dealing with this matter, especially when it comes to security. He added that the department is also committed to coordinate and work with the missions, organisations and honorary counsel going forward. “The department will work to ensure that information in relation to how the government will roll out assistance, programs, projects and laws and regulations in relation especially to security in the country, is available to the diplomatic community.” The third priority as outlined by the Minister, is to work closely with all international partners and missions to implement outstanding treaties, and agreements that the government had undertaken and signed. This includes working with other government departments to assist implement agreements and treaties that have already been signed. Minister Tkatckenko said that the fourth priority is to ensure the Foreign Affairs Policy White Paper is completed. He said the Foreign Policy White Paper is an all-important document that will guide PNG on all Foreign Policy arrangements and directions. “It’s an important document that sets the guidelines for the benefit of our country’s reputation and wellbeing.” The fifth priority for the department is to complete all reforms and restructure, and the long overdue corporate plan. “There is lack of qualified staff in Foreign Affairs and we will ensure all positions are filled with reputable highly educated Papua New Guineans.” Additionally, Minister Tkatchenko said the sixth priority is to ensure that all positions throughout the world, at overseas foreign missions are occupied by genuine, experienced and qualified Papua New Guineans. “We need to ensure that we fill all positions this year to fulfil the duties and roles of Heads of Missions to implement our government’s directives in those countries.” “Working with international missions here and abroad, it is our responsibility to ensure all our obligations to the organisations are fulfilled, paid for and secure so we can participate at these important meetings around the world.” “We will continue to re-fleet all overseas missions and upgrade, renovate and restore to a professional and modern standard.” Minister Tkatchenko also thanked the government for a substantial budget allocation in the 2023 and 2024 National Budgets. This he said will enable the implementation of the departments programs and activities in respect to its international relationships.

The National Government will be supporting the Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) to ensure that the SME sector gets the support needed to flourish and with it, contribute to the overall development of the country and its people. The country’s Chief Secretary to Government Mr. Ivan Pomaleu, who represented the government at the recent agreement signing between the CGC and ten private financial institutions in the country, said that the State has allocated funds to support the Corporation. “There is some support in the 2024 Budget of K3 million, which will help start the work for the Corporation,” said Mr. Pomaleu. “We are having conversations with our other shareholder to make sure that the commitment to support come through this year.” The Chief Secretary also said that there is real possibility that the government will channel some of the SME lending budget support through to supporting the CGC. Mr. Pomaleu and his team are working to also get this support through. “I think that goes to demonstrate our SME growth and the importance we place on making sure that our organizations like the Credit Guarantee Corporation, takes root and actually begin to establish and provide the support that’s required.” Meanwhile, the agreement signing between the CGC and the ten financial institutions, will provide credit guarantee for the financial institutions, which will then reduce the credit risk of the lenders and allow them to extend finance to customers and support ventures that may have previously been considered too risky. This will enable more micro to small business owners to access funds with ease to help grow and expand their small businesses and with it, the SME sector in the country.

The Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) or the Central Bank, is supporting the recently signed credit guarantee agreements because of what this will do for the Micro to Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector in the country going forward. The credit guarantee agreements were signed between the Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) Papua New Guinea (PNG) and ten financial institutions on Thursday 18th January in Port Moresby to make way for MSME entrepreneurs to have ease of access to financial support for their business operations. The BPNG Governor, Ms. Elizabeth Genia said the Bank is in support of this initiative and is committed to see it becoming successful. “CGC will provide credit guarantee to financial institutions, the guarantee will reduce the credit risk of the lenders and allow them to extend finance to customers and support ventures that may have previously considered too risky,” said Ms. Genia. She said the arrangement is firmly in line with several strategic government initiatives designed to build the PNG economy. These strategic initiatives include the SME Policy, the PNG Development Strategic Plan, BPNG Vision 2050 and the government’s Vision 2050 as well, the Financial Inclusion Policy, the Inclusive Green Finance Policy and the recently launched Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) 4. The Governor said that the result of the credit guarantee initiative will see a positive impact on MSME owners and their families, socially and economically. It will also be an inspiration for other people to start enterprises and innovations, so to financially boost their local area. This will lead to the creation of more employment and generate revenue for the government to fund infrastructure and local services. “It gives the MSME sector the opportunity to become a sustainable economic growth powerhouse that the sector has the potential to be.” Ms. Genia explained that the Bank continues its efforts also to support the growth of the MSME sector through its own initiatives like working with the Center for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEFI), which provides financial literacy training to support small business owners, and for the CGC to partner with financial institutions in the country to support the MSMEs, it is something the Bank fully welcomes.

The Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry (POMCCI) Inc. has expressed its concern that the Wednesday 10th January riots and destructions in the city, could lead to more hardship to be faced by the businesses, their employees and their suppliers in the weeks to come. The POMCCI President, Mr. Rio Fiocco in statement that condemned the attacks on the major supermarkets and warehouses by looters, said that they sympathize with the members of the POMCCI who are being affected dearly from that faithful day. “Our members, including major employers like CPL Group and The Brian Bell Group, have suffered millions of Kina in loss and damages which will continue as they no longer have supermarkets and warehouses to operate,” said the president. “They, along with our members, employ hundreds of people whose jobs are now at risk. Also, those farmers and other local suppliers will suffer as a consequence of all the destruction in our nation’s capital." He also stressed that the businesses pay taxes to the government and that money from that tax pay the police, teachers and all the other public servants. “We must always respect other people’s properties as well as the rule of law. God bless PNG and all the people who live and work in our beautiful country.” Mr. Fiocco said that what happened on Wednesday 10th January was very shameful for Papua New Guinea in the eyes of the international community and could lead to overseas based businesses rethinking of investing their hard-earned money in the country.

Ten financial institutions in the country will now be able to extend financial support to a wider range of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) after they were provided credit guarantee by the Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) of Papua New Guinea (PNG). This was achieved with the signing of the heads of agreements between the ten financial institutions and CGC in a small but significant ceremony in Port Moresby yesterday. The signing was descried as a milestone for the CGC by the Board Chairman, Mr. Robin Fleming. Having being established in 2022, the CGC will now execute its functions in supporting the SMEs and the micro businesses through these financial institutions. “Credit enhancements are really important tools in being able to manage and assist financial institutions to manage debts associated with smaller businesses in particular, and provide some form of products to ensure we can offer a product for SMEs in PNG and also hopefully to reduce the risk of loses associated with customers,” said Mr. Fleming. Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) Governor, Ms. Elizabeth Genia said the Bank is in support of this initiative and is committed to see its success. “CGC will provide credit guarantee to financial institutions, the guarantee will reduce the credit risk of the lenders (The financial institutions) and allow them to extend finance to customers and support ventures that may have been previously considered too risky,” said Ms. Genia. She explained that up until now the lack of traditional collateral acceptable to the lending institution, has meant that many micro and SME entrepreneurs had been unable to access funding. “No funding means no ability to grow or take advantage of potential growth, potential opportunities; the enterprises still remains small. The hard work of the owners does not attract the potential rewards it deserves. So, in many cases their enterprises shrivel and die.” “So, with the commitment and support of the financial institutions who are party to this agreement, MSME entrepreneurs will be able to water their small seeds of enterprise with appropriate funding and take fuller advantage of the business training they can also access through CEFI (Center for Excellence in Financial Inclusion).” The ten financial institutions that signed the agreement with CGC are FinCorp, Financial & Private Sector Savings & Loans Society Limited, Kina Bank, MiBank, Moni Plus, Nafund Contributors Savings & Loans Society Limited (NCSL), Nambawan Super Savings & Loans Society (NSLS), People’s Micro Bank, Resource & Investment Finance Limited and Women’s Micro Bank Limited.  

The Prime Minister has said that full investigation is underway into what actually happened with the Alesco Payroll system that caused the so called glitch on Wednesday 10th January that led to the police stop work protest and the subsequent civil unrest in Port Moresby city and in other parts of the country as well. Speaking at a recent press conference in Port Moresby, Prime Minister (PM) James Marape informed that the move to suspend the heads of three government departments was to ensure that the full investigation takes place. “One computer misconfiguration, we will establish whether it was deliberate misconfiguration or oversight by those in Finance, Department of Personnel Management and Treasury,” said the PM. “That is why heads of these respective departments have been asked to step aside, suspended in the meantime as we get central agencies to go in and have a look at what happened.” The PM said the investigation will be to establish the reason why the payroll system was not updated which then led to the major pay deduction for public servants last week. Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) Commissioner General Mr. Sam Koim in a statement released over the weekend clarifying the tax issue, said that the Department of Finance, which administers the Alesco Payroll, informed that the Alesco system was not reconfigured on time to make K20, 000 tax free threshold permanent; hence, it reverted to K17, 500 on 1 January 2024, thereby resulting in a reduction in the net pay. This was later identified and resolved.

The Prime Minister has confirmed that the government will be looking at putting together a relief package for the businesses that lost their properties during the riots on Wednesday 10th January, so to help them get back on their feet after their losses. Speaking at a press conference yesterday in Port Moresby city, Prime Minister (PM) James Marape said it was sad to see the business houses that have operated in Port Moresby and the country over the years, losing everything to the opportunists that ransacked their shops, supermarkets and warehouses. “We did inform that there will be full assessment into the losses faced by our business community,” said the prime minister. Most of these business houses are brand names, household names that have been in the country for years and served generations of Papua New Guineans, employed people and also contribute so much to the country’s economy. Therefore, it is only just that the government at least provide some assistance to them. “We will be looking into some incentives or some assistance packages to ensure they get back up on their feet to serve our people here in Port Moresby, our nation’s capital." A lot of shops, supermarkets and the major businesses that suffered during the unrest have lost over K100million worth of goods and items, which cannot be replaced soon without some kind of government help.