It will take another 50 years to clean this economic mess. This is not an hypothesis, it is real. Papua New Guinea remains a construction of Australia and this baby was given to Somare to raise, nurture and wean into a strong vibrant adult. Yet it remains an infant in the simpler things of life - honesty, integrity, hardwork, love, compassion, respect and personal dignity.  - 
Bire Kimisopa.

IT WILL TAKE PAPUA NEW GUINEA ANOTHER 50 YEARS TO CLEAN THE ECONOMIC MESS.

ARTICLE BY BIRE KIMISOPA

I would like to advise our esteemed brothers and sisters using this platform to read with an open mind and appreciate the colossal nature of the structural damage done to the Papua New Guinea economy and the urgent need for budget repair that awaits us all.

It will take another 50 years to clean this economic mess. This is not an hypothesis, it is real.

The only prosperous Island nation in the world that does not run a budget deficit is Singapore. This explains why they are ranked high on any development indices and enjoy a quality of life that is the envy of the world.

A nation that started with virtually nothing is now a global economic powerhouse. Just look at the capital valuations of all companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. It demonstrates the gargantuan pull by Singapore on Foreign Direct Investment from all around the world.

There is a snippet posted on this forum with a video on the astute and a once in a generational leader called Lee Kwan Yew.

The blog offered by Kessy Sawang on the state of government Finance is NOT A JOKE. This is real and I hope sensible Papua New Guineans who are hoping to become MPs or just mere peripheral commentators realize the diabolical mess we are confronted with heading into the 2022 NGE.

Let me extrapolate on Kessy's take and say without equivocation that Papua New Guineans have a high propensity to consume disposal income and possess a low net rating in personal savings. Coupled with the ravages of high inflation household income has been decimated right across the board.

No wonder wage concerns has propelled the Trade Union Congress to call for Ian Ling Stuckey's sacking.

Papua New Guinea wage earners will lose the value of their income and their personal savings if you print money. As you will appreciate, inflation will impose a tax on household savings destroying millions of lives.

The consequences of Budget deficits will only see prolonged monetary easing or the printing of artificial money to pay down debt and increase public expenditure.

The promise of such fictitious fiscal policy prescription pontificated by both O'Neill and Marape is that by increasing expenditure you expect to grow GDP, leading to increase employment and subsequently a corresponding increase in government revenues. This is called voodoo economics and it rarely works. It only leads to inflation and distorts price.

The illusion presented by government is that they will somehow pay down the debt and balance the budget according to an artificial timeline. That's the genius of Ian Ling Stuckey and that will fail.

The Singapore model is proof positive that such a policy prescription is for fools and lunatics who live in utopia. The real beneficiaries of such a stupid approach in fiscal management is the thieves who thrive on procurement fraud, commissions and kick backs.

There is no time to take sides. Whether it is Peter O'Neill or James Marape's mess we just have to deal with the repair work post 2022 NGE.

We just don't have time to point fingers because they have dug a hole deeper than your usual 6 feet and forgot to throw down an escape ladder for us to get out. Now we face the real prospect of climbing out by stepping on the bodies of our own children to save ourselves.

The problems are real and whoever goes into Parliament will either fix the mess or excercebate the current economic mess. There is no magic wand we can wave for this present contagion to disappear unless we have some celestial insight to write all the wrongs of the past.

To my fellow brothers and sisters on the EB forum your endeavors to help arrest the deplorable state of government finance will be tested by the party you associate with or the personalities you gravitate towards.

The simple test for economic stability is when 1 kg rice is K1, Ox and Palm is K5, Lamb Flaps is K10 per kg and 1 liter cooking oil is K3. Better still, when university tuition fee is subsidized by 50% regardless of the prestigious nature of the discipline or course and when graduates don't look for jobs but jobs go looking for them.

Furthermore, a stable economy is when the value of the kina is on par with the currencies of our major trading partners and its convertibility is widely accepted will be an important marker.

The signs of a great economy is when our Papua New Guinean bricklayers, electricians, tile layers, builders, painters, plumbers, mechanics, engineers have a thriving SME sector, providing real employment and much needed liquidity into the economy.

By subsidising the high cost of retail banking placed upon our small businessmen and women and small depositors who can enjoy the real benefits of personal savings and secure cheaper bank loans without the high capital ratios currently imposed by the commercial banks.

We must look beyond the fraud presented by political parties and move beyond the cult worship of a politician masquerading as leader who promises everything but delivers nothing.

Leadership is accentuated by a correct vista, or a vision for a better future, and the moral courage to deliver on that promise regardless of the negative noise around which sometimes can be distracting.

Papua New Guinea remains a construction of Australia and this baby was given to Somare to raise, nurture and wean into a strong vibrant adult. Yet it remains an infant in the simpler things of life - honesty, integrity, hard work, love, compassion, respect and personal dignity.

Papua New Guinea is turning out to be an abandoned child left destitute or an outcast for lack of a better word. It is encumbered on every Papua New Guinean and especially the EB community to rise up and restore this child to the vestige that once endeared Somare and his comrades to seek the fortunes of self determination and independence.

Eastern Highlands must once again reassert its pledge to this nation held so valiantly by the Late Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare and provide a fulcrum where good governance and empathy for all people must cancel out the insidious disease of "mi kaikai pastaim na yu na meri pikinini blo yu bai kaikai bihain."

May God bless Papua New Guinea and my personal congratulations and best wishes to all our brothers from Kassam Pass to Kuli Gap who have secured their endorsements from political parties for the 2022 NGE.

Bire Kimisopa, Goroka, Papua New Guinea.

It will take Papua New Guinea another 50 years to clean up the economic mess created.





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