By MATTHEW VARI
Sunday, November 8, 2015 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)
THE government has set its sights on raising US$1 billion through its inaugural sovereign bond roadshow in the coming weeks.
Treasury Secretary Dairi Vele revealed some details to travel out and meet with foreign investors in a bid to boost the country’s shallow capital base in financing the country’s financial needs from the more tradition commodity based income generation source to one of capital investment.
“For the last couple of years we do have a very shallow capital market where we go and finance the budgets. We try to explain to people and parliament that when we say we have got a K14 billion budget to spend it doesn’t mean that we have got it all there at once,” Vele said.
“It is not there on January 1. We’ve got some there we’ve roll some over from the last year and we have got to go out and finance it. We have got to go out to a couple of banks, a handful of superfunds, and raise that kind of money.”
“We’ve had the same small pool, we need to deepen that pool. We need to look at the different options available to us to diversify the funds.”
He pointed out the sovereign bond roadshow, if successful, would help with the country’s debt levels by proper restructuring as part of the Debt Review Program.
“We need to also access foreign direct capital markets- that is why later on this year we are going on the inaugural bond roadshow. At the bill bond roadshow we are hoping to achieve a US$1 billion, but we’ll see how we go and that essentially is going out and selling shares in Papua New Guinea.”
“Papua New Guineans will walk into a room with end users, with hedge funds and pension funds and ask them to invest in our country. You can only do that when your story is at its best.”
“Some of the institutional development like the Kumul Holding entities and the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) candidacy, our sovereign wealth fund, and our independent commission against corruption are some of those stories that help our cause.”
“If you have hyper growth for a period and you have to have institutional development because that is what moves the money. It is what translates the money from the rural to the urban areas from Port Moresby, Lae, Hagan and some of the outer areas,” he explained.
He said the country was at a stage where it could go out and tell people to invest in the country.
“With the proceeds we will look at restructuring our debt, as a part of our debt review program we have to make sure that we are not just borrowing and borrowing.”
He pointed out other countries currently on similar trips overseas include Sri Lanka, Mongolia, and Gabon in bids to raise foreign capital.
No comments:
Post a Comment