Business owed K2 billion in GST refunds, Internal Revenue Commission to launch online tax payments and new Twinza Oil chairman to travel to Papua New Guinea. Your digest of the latest business news.

PNG’s pavilion at WorldExpo2020 in Dubai. The expo was postponed from last year. Credit: PNG WorldExpo 2020 via Facebook

Papua New Guinea’s Forestry Minister Walter Schnaubelt has officially opened PNG’s pavilion at the Dubai World Expo 2020.

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Businesses are owed K2 billion by the State in goods and services tax (GST) refunds, according to the Business Council of PNG‘s Executive Director Douveri Henao. Henao told The National that the largest amount was owed to the extractive industry. (The National)

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Commissioner General of PNG’s Internal Revenue Commission, Sam Koim, has announced the development of a new online client platform, myIRC, which will ‘enable individuals and organisations, for the first time, to lodge returns, pay their taxes, as well as other interactions previously only able to be performed at an IRC office’.

The platform, which is being developed by developer Niupay, is due to be switched on in ‘late 2021’. (IRC)

Telecommunications

The Telikom-bmobile merger into Telikom Ltd is on track, with a major announcement to be made next month, according to State Enterprises Minister William Duma. He also said the rollout of the third operator in the telecommunications market, Vodafone, would be good for the market.

Meanwhile, Duma said the rollout of the third operator in the telecommunications market, Vodafone, would be good for the market. (The National)

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Meanwhile, Vodafone’s parent, Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Group of Companies, recorded a net profit before tax amounted to FJD$54.7million (K90.58 million), representing a decline of 22 per cent over the same period last year. The Group’s 2021 Annual Report reported operating revenue of FJD$580million (K960 million) for the year ended 31 March 2021, a decline of 14.11 per cent.

‘Notwithstanding the current challenges, the Group will continue its efforts to grow shareholder value, by increasing its expansion in the region, with immediate focus on the Papua New Guinea broadband network construction,’ said ATH Group CEO Ivan Fong. (Fiji Times)

Petroleum and gas

The new Chairman of Twinza Oil, Stephen Quantrill, will travel to PNG soon ‘to identify a path to the signing of the Pasca A Gas Agreement’ following the resignation of previous Chairman and CEO Ian Munro.

A final gas agreement for the offshore gas project in the Gulf of Papua was expected at the end of July but it has since stalled. The company has begun a search process for a new CEO. (Twinza Oil)

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Securing the approval of 75 per cent of Oil Search‘s shareholders to a merger with Santos on 29 November may not be straightforward, given several large institutional investors are yet to be convinced of the merger, reports The Australian. It quotes shareholder Allan Gray, which owns nearly 5 per cent of the company’s stock, as saying it is yet to be convinced by the transaction.

Finance

PNG’s Securities Commission has reduced the levies on each buy and sell transaction on PNG’s stock exchange from 0.75 per cent introduced in February this year to just 0.03%. The new levies will take effect on 23 November. All monies collected under the previous levies are to be returned to investors.

The levies are to be paid into a Capital Market Development Fund to develop the sector. (PNGX)

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Women’s Micro Bank Limited, rebranded as the Mama Bank, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PNGX Markets, the PNG Digital ICT Cluster, and Emerging Venture Management (Unkapt) – together the proponents of the DEFINE Initiative. The MOU outlines areas of cooperation to deliver a number of DEFINE objectives, including new sources of funding to expand lending to women-led micro, small and medium sized enterprises. (Women’s Micro Bank)

Infrastructure

Water PNG Limited has inked a contract deal worth K43 million for two water supply projects that will improve water access for people in Kundiawa and Bulolo townships.A water supply contracts was signed with Kaiaworks Civil Engineering Contractors Limited for K20 million for the Kundiawa water supply project, while another K23 million for Bulolo water supply project was signed between Sino Hydro Corporation Limited. (Post-Courier)