Businesses in Port Moresby remain resilient after Black Wednesday

Businesses affected during the black Wednesday event earlier this year have been very resilient.

President of the Business Council of Papua New Guinea (BCPNG) Susil-Nelson Kongoi said this is despite losing millions as a direct result of this event.

The BCPNG, with the assistance of Price Warterhouse Coopers through a survey, got positive feedback from 106 participants.

Mrs Kongoi, when highlighting this at the Business Conference in Brisbane, said these businesses have foregone millions of Kina worth of properties and assets. However, there could be more.

“A quarter of the businesses surveyed actually indicated that they'd take redundancy in terms of programs to mitigate their losses.

“So almost one in three during that survey were reconsidering what the investment options were in PNG.

“And also the numbers indicate that tax collections also from businesses would be negatively impacted because of the reduction in salary and wages and also in Goods and Services Tax (GST),” Kongoi said.

The business community is, however, grateful to the national government for some assistance already provided to some of the business houses affected.