Shortage of foreign exchange hindering investment, concerns about Customs procedures and the Crowne Plaza in Port Moresby up for sale. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

Rural Industries Council Chairman Sir Brown Bai has claimed that a dearth of foreign currency is hindering new investments coming into the country, reports the Post Courier. It reports Bai calling for co-operation from all parties: ‘newly established investment companies are feeling the pinch of it.’

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Concerns have been raised that new payment procedures recently introduced by Customs PNG are delaying clearances of cargos and containers by customs brokers, according to the Post Courier. It is reported that this was revealed during a special meeting held in Lae by the Customs Brokers Association.

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The Crowne Plaza, Port Moresby

The Crowne Plaza hotel in Port Moresby has gone on the market. Located in the heart of ‘Town’, the four-star hotel has ‘sweeping’ views over the Coral Sea and Fairfax Harbour and is a PNG institution. The current owner is Kumul Hotels Ltd, itself co-owned by SPHC Management Limited (part of Intercontinental Hotels Group), Nambawan Super Limited and Melanesian Trustee Services Limited. The hotel is being marketed internationally by JLL and in PNG by Deloitte.

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Shareholders in InterOil Corporation have voted to re-elect all eight of InterOil’s director nominees and rejected all of the dissident resolutions proposed by Phil Mulacek and his associates at InterOil’s Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders. Each InterOil director nominee received at least 72% of the votes submitted at the Meeting or by proxy. There will be a special meeting on July 28 for shareholders to approve the sale to InterOil to Oil Search.

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Crater Gold Mining has announced its first gold sale since the installation and commissioning of its new custom-made gold processing plant at the High Grade Zone (HGZ) Project at Crater Mountain, Papua New Guinea. The company received $351,000 from gold production. The processed material was largely sourced from stockpiled material derived from initial development work at the HGZ project.

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Chief Commissioner of Customs, Ray Paul, says nearly K1 million in revenue is lost every month because of the under-valuing of soft drinks, according to The National.  It is reported that Paul said audits conducted by Customs discovered that this had been happening in the past five years and the organisation has started a compliance drive.

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K92 Mining has signed an offtake agreement with Interalloys covering the first three years of concentrate production from the mine. The company says the signing of the offtake agreement follows ‘extensive negotiations with a number of potential off takers.’ It has expressed confidence that the terms are ‘extremely competitive and provide for payment of gold, silver and copper contained in the concentrate.’

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Air Niugini’s Simon Foo

Chief Executive of Air Niugini, Simon Foo, says the the airline will start its second Japan service next month, according to The National. It is reported that Japanese travel agents and tour operators are continuing to create awareness of PNG in Japan.

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And finally, the 10th Transparency International Papua New Guinea walk against corruption scheduled for June 12  has been postponed to Sunday, June 19 following last week’s student unrest in Port Moresby. Transparency International has called on the government to launch an impartial and independent investigation into the violence against demonstrating students.