Dairi: It’s been a difficult year

Source: Post-Courier, November 06, 2015, 12:14 am

Treasury Secretary Dairi Vele has attributed the huge drop in the estimates of the mining and petroleum tax to the difficult year that had been experienced by the resource sector in 2015.

The budget team was asked to explain why the estimates had dropped from K1.4 billion to just K300 million in tax receipts and were far from what government would actually get the 2015 financial year.

Mr Vele had in responding had hailed 2015 as a terrible year and that these were the numbers that were coming in.

"For the first round of instalments we got K37 million, then it was low double digit in the second round with K11 million then K115 million.

"This year should be another K200 million or K100 million. It’s been a difficult year. Production issues have also started to kick in. OK Tedi going down is a very big issue and has gone from an actively producing and selling to not producing and selling so the numbers are what they are," Mr Vele said.

He said other companies in the sector were also feeling the pinch but had expressed optimism of better days ahead. Internal Revenue Commissioner Betty Palaso had said the first instalment which had been paid in by the sector, had been low, adding if any that was an indication of what was to be expected in the other payments that were to follow."

"The actual amount that was paid in for the first instalment was lower than what was projected. We noted a huge amounts of variation. As the secretary said the figures are what they are, it may need some auditing but again that comes back to resources," Ms Palaso had stated.

Mr Vele had said despite this that there were opportunities as well.

Among them for PNG LNG project look to giving government a third LNG Train for the Pnyang fields that it is giving them.

He said another is the Wafi-Golpu project which were now at the end stages of negotiations.