Dede Sophie

Papua New Guinea, like the rest of the world, is being hard hit by skyrocketing inflation – impacting greatly upon citizens with no end in sight. Prime Minister James Marape has said that higher prices of fuel and goods are expected to remain reflecting the impact of the Russia – Ukraine war.  The National Government earlier introduced a K611 million assistance package which includes the 10%  GST cuts to specific goods, fuel prices subsidy, the inclusion of “lifting of the income tax threshold and fully funding school project fee costs in education for this year. Prime Minister Marape told NBC news – a lot of people did not benefit earlier from the subsidy due to agencies being slow in implementing it.  Marape says the subsidy should be fully implemented now with further assistance through a supplementary budget. He says Treasury and other relevant government agencies are re-looking at the model, to see what ways the assistance can be further provided. The revised package from K350 mil

Papua New Guineans, wanting to catch a glimpse of  US President, will be disappointed following foreign media reports that  President Joe Biden has cancelled his stop-over trip to Papua New Guinea. When reacting to the news, Opposition Leader Joseph Lelang, says as a country, we do understand, that there are domestic issues back in the United States that needed his attention. The Opposition Leader, however, said the cancellation of the trip would give the opportunity for the Prime Minister to tell this country what this Defense Cooperation Treaty is all about. PNG opposition leader  Mr. Lelang said, information on the contents of the Defense Cooperation Treaty with the United States was sketchy, therefore, created a lot of confusion and uneasiness around the country as to what this means for us. The Opposition is calling on the Prime Minister to come out and tell the nation the details of the Defense Cooperation Treaty. The Opposition Leader reminded the Government that we have a forei