Papua New Guinea has lost an estimated K1.8 billion to K4.4 billion of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to corruption, exacerbated by money laundering in 2017, Prime Minister James Marape says.
“Combatting corruption is very important because theft is a waste of resources as the International Monetary Fund did confirm in a report in 2017,” he said.
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| Papua New Guinea has lost an estimated K1.8 billion to K4.4 billion of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to corruption, exacerbated by money laundering in 2017, Prime Minister James Marape says. |
“It is believed, an estimated two to five per cent of the total value of GDP is lost through money laundering.”
While providing the keynote speech at the first anti-money laundering conference, Marape acknowledged the work of Justice Minister Bryan Kramer and his department in fighting money laundering.
He said corruption was a serious and ongoing threat to the economy more so as PNG was a small country and could not afford to lose money.
Marape said governments needed to continue to take serious steps to address corruption and facilitate sustainable and effective legislation, initiatives and policies to achieve the goal of minimising corruption.
“It is incumbent upon any responsible government to rally the systems we manage and to put in place responsible checks and balance mechanisms to ensure we minimise corruption,” he said.
Marape said the Government had ramped up efforts over the last two years to fight corruption through legislation and policies.
He said PNG had always been committed to fighting corruption, as evident by the Somare Government’s 2010-2030 national anti-corruption strategy.
Marape said now the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) Bill had been passed, the Icac team had put in place mechanisms to ensure it fulfilled its mandate.
“Fighting corruption has a direct socio-economic benefit, keeping our country economically safe from loss of revenue,” he said.
The National / Pacific Business News