(MEDIA RELEASE)

It has come to my knowledge that a purported press release from my office on request for China based financing facilities to refinance heavy and expensive debts up to K27billion the O’Neill led government has racked up.

Whilst it is our new government’s intention to refinance bad and expensive loans secured by the previous Government, we will not be reckless to add burden to our country.

We are in discussion with many of our bilateral partners to access very low cost concession finance to give us some breathing space and this includes our discussions with World Bank, ADB and some other possible nontraditional partners.

Our relationship in the world is just not about China or neither the West including Australia.

We have a country to run and our national interest will take precedence with numbers, rates, and statistics influencing my Government’s decisions including the best terms for loan refinancing if need be, but at the moment we as whole of government have not approved this pathway yet, and someone has run ahead to the media without my consent or knowledge.

In the meantime I have asked our Treasurer Hon Sam Basil to get his Department to do a profiling on all loans currently running to ascertain their performance to the economy as well as I have put stop to more borrowings and loans until we are satisfied that the project cost benefit analysis establishes return on the loans that we might secure.

My government will be responsible; we will not go down the easy path of resorting to loans but working strategically to invest in growing the economy through policy and legislations that embraces incentives and structural reforms as ways of anchoring our country for positive rebound.

This also will include cutting away wastage in our budgets.
“So it is misreporting and false that I am going one way to China with request for K27billion loan, we rather discuss trade with them then continual or further loan.

No more unnecessary loans except to refinance our expensive loans and for key enabling Economic infrastructures
in regional economies.

For instance I have put stop to a loan volume of about K1billion on few non significant projects of last government, including a Port Moresby based water supply project to be sourced from China Exim.”

Prime Minister James Marape said this to clear some fake news that was being circulated.