OPPOSITION Leader Joseph Lelang says Papua New Guinea does need intervention by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank but the Government has invited them into the country by its inability to manage the economy responsibly.
In a statement yesterday, Lelang said the Government needed to take responsibility for putting the country in a “precarious economic position” where it was now being dictated to by these world financial institutions as well as other multilateral and bilateral partners.
“We are a resource rich country, why are we going to them?” he asked
“As Shadow Treasurer in the last Parliament and as Opposition Leader today, I have pointed to this inevitable outcome because of the red flags that the Government has been raising since it took office in May 2019.

Papua New Guinea ​OPPOSITION Leader Joseph Lelang says the Government must toughen its fight against organised and transnational crime.
Lelang said it was now clear that the trafficking of dangerous drugs was well organised, judging from the recent cases of black flights to and from Queensland, Australia, ferrying illicit drugs.
“We must not take the attitude that this is a police operation alone,” Lelang said.
“Somebody somewhere knows what is going on.
“Somebody somewhere is facilitating these operations.
“These drug traffickers are operating from business or private residences which have paper trails in business registrations, business locations and section and lot numbers.

Police in the National Capital District said there will not be any protest march tomorrow (Thursday 30.03.23).
Port Moresby Police Metropolitan Superintendent Silva Sika said no one has advised nor sought clearance from police on any protest that's being widely speculated and circulated on social media.  
He made known this stand as messages are being circulated of a planned protest. 
Mr. Sika told NBC Radio this afternoon that police personnel will be out in full force tomorrow, especially in hotspots, to ensure its business as normal for everyone, including students.

​Bus  and Taxi drivers and their crew in Papua New Guinea'ss Lae City were told to go back home, have a shower, dress properly and return to work.
This is part of Lae Metropolitan Command Traffic Unit's   initiative to address improper dressing in the city. 
According to a Senior Traffic Officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, they are sending drivers and crew home this morning to wash, wear good clothes, be neat and go to work or will be charged for improper dressing. 
"This is not the first time but we have been doing this where we hold drivers and crews and charge them for improper dressing," he says. 

Papua New Guinea Minister for International Trade and Investment,  Richard Maru invited the CEOs of provident fund, superannuation fund, sovereign wealth funds, trust funds, and social security administrations from across the Pacific who had gathered in Port Moresby for the 2023 Pacific Islands Investment CEO’s Forum to invest in Papua New Guinea (PNG), especially in the non- resource sector.
“We have exciting investment opportunities in Papua New Guinea. We are looking for investors in rice, chicken, dairy (we need two more dairies), feed, and beef industry, and also in the space of downstream processing of our coffee, cocoa, coconut, and fish (we want to process 100 percent of our catch in country). 

​FIVE youths are confirmed dead and 11 others recovering from methanol poisoning after consuming industrial alcohol in a binge over the weekend in Papua New Guinea's Lae city, the National reports.
Angau Memorial Hospital emergency department officer in-charge Dr Alex Peawi described it as a “scary chaos” on Sunday.
“Fifteen youths, all males between the ages of 18 and 25, were rushed here (Angau) in the early hours of Sunday,” he said.
“Three were brought in dead. Two came in with blindness and eventually succumbed after an hour or so.”

​PNG Power Ltd owes about K300 million to independent power producers (IPP) , according to IPP industry group chairman David Burbidge.
“There are still large amounts of money outstanding to some IPPs amounting to hundreds of millions of kina,” he said.
“The situation is clearly unsustainable.”
There are five IPPs supplying electricity to PNG Power.
“While we welcome (PNG Power’s) initiatives in getting more generation on line, the fact remains that PNG Power is trading while insolvent,” he said.
“It simply doesn’t have the cash.”

PNG ​POLICE are trying to locate underground drug laboratories manufacturing cocaine and methamphetamine (meth) in the country, Internal Security Minister Peter Tsiamalili Jr says.
“Such drugs were previously smuggled into the country but there are now indications that drugs are being manufactured here,” he added. He said police had identified hotspot airstrips where domestically-manufactured drugs were being loaded for export.

A 43-YEAR-OLD Chinese man was charged in a committal court in Lae, Morobe, with trafficking 88 bags of methamphetamine (meth) from Bulolo last Tuesday,
Magistrate Pious Tapil read out the charge to Chun Li, from Guangdong’s Chen City, China, and denied him bail on Friday.
Chun is alleged to have trafficked the meth from KC2, Seventh Street in Lae, to the Bulolo airstrip on Tuesday to be flown to Australia.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Vincent Suakai, when asked by Magistrate Tapil, said bail should not be granted to Chun as he would likely not return to court because his entry into the country was questionable.