PNG’s chance to rid ‘rich yet poor’ tag

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

CHIEF Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc says Papua New Guinea now has the chance to remove the “wealthy yet poor” tag attached to it since independence 37 years ago.
He said this on Friday during a meeting with all departmental heads, provincial administrators and agency heads at the Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby.
He said the objective of the meeting, at the direction of the Prime Minister, was to present three priorities for the next three years.
This include implementation of the 2013 budget, commitments through individual performance agreements for the three priorities, and prepare for the Leaders' Summit on February 4.
 
He said the realities were that Prime Minister in his address to the nation stated that the government had clearly heard the peoples' cry for change for a better life that is commensurate to the wealth of the country.
He said PNG's population was now over 7 million people, according to 2011 data, which is growing at a rate of over 2.3 per cent per annum.
Mr Zurenuoc said PNG had experienced 13 years of consecutive uninterrupted economic growth averaging 6 percent and resulting in an estimated K42 billion annual budgets from 2008-2012.
 
“Despite this solid economic growth for more than a decade, most of the indicators for the Millennium Development Goals targets are either stagnant or declining. Performances on our social indicators do not commensurate to the 13 years of positive economic growth we have had,” he said.
“In other words, as a country we have little, if not nothing, to show for on the ground. People are still not seeing tangible benefits to their lives.”
The chief Secretary warned that the trend would continue if it was not arrested today and was more likely to exacerbate further the current conditions into a worsening situation by the ever growing population.
Mr Zurenuoc expressed concern over the use of K55 billion over the next four years (2014-2017) .
 
“If we continue with the current trend, I have no doubt that all of this K55 billion will go to waste and PNG will continue to be labeled as ‘wealthy yet poor’,” he said.
“But we have a chance to reverse this trend now through the Alatau Accord, which contains 78 priorities that are over-arching in their implementation implications. All of us here have a role to play in achieving these priorities.
“With the 2013 budget of K13 billion framed along these priorities, there is clearly an effort to lay the foundations for prosperity for our people,” Mr Zurenuoc said.