THE Papua New Guinea economy largely depends on development projects in the resource sector, according to the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum. Chamber vice-president Richard Kassman said during the National Content conference in Port Moresby yesterday that good government policies directed the mining and petroleum development projects to contribute more to the economy. “It impacts the economy through skilled labour employment and international and national stake holder business investment opportunities,” he said. The conference is aimed at developing shared value in trade, investment and business opportunities between the Government, private sector businesses and project developers to strengthen and build the country’s health, education, infrastructure, energy and socio-economic development areas. “The PNG economy largely depends on development projects in the resource sector,” Kassman said. “The Government aims to drive a national content policy that centered on shared value systems Papua New Guineans have been taught for generations.” Kassman said the national content policy promoted the participation and development of national capital, labour, goods and services and technology in the planning and development of major resource projects. THE PNG Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project brought in K20.9 billion to the national economy since it began in 2014, according to operator ExxonMobil PNG Limited. PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum senior vice-president Richard Kassman told the national content conference in Port Moresby yesterday that the project had contributed a lot to the economy. Of that K20.9 billion, the petroleum project gave about K8.6 billion for its tax compliances, and the same amount to Kumul Petroleum Holdings. ExxonMobil had also contributed around K1 billion for development levies and paid about K1.6 billion to the Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC). “The country has the opportunity to transition young people into skilled-labour training for upcoming development projects. “When a resource project is developed, the demand for goods and services and skilled labour is very high.” MORE than K900 million is spent annually on rice import, and the figure continues to increase, says Papua New Guinea International Trade and Investment Minister Richard Maru. “We are buying imported rice for K6 to K7, and people are paying 100 per cent more than what they should be paying. This is why inflation is high,” he said. Maru told the Central Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the Government planned to make Central a distributor of rice, with the aim of lowering the cost of imports and to invest in local commercial industries. “I will make sure to support Rigo Rice to unleash the potential of the province,” he said. PAPUA New Guinea’s foreign exchange shortage is causing higher imports and low exports, an economist says. Australia National University (ANU) Development Policy Centre director Professor Stephen Howes speaking at the 38th Australia-PNG Business Forum and Trade Expo in Port Moresby said: “The country is faced with a foreign exchange (forex) shortage largely because PNG lost its competitive and hardline economic gains from the 1990s during the resource boom between 2000 and 2014.” Howes said that while this was understandable and saw the economy and forex grow at similar rates following the boom the real exchange rate remained relatively high over the last 10 years boosting the economy but also contributing to the forex shortage. A TAX holiday of a maximum 10 years will be given to those investing in the special economic zones around the country, says International Trade and Investment Minister Richard Maru. Maru told the Australia and PNG Business Council members yesterday in Port Moresby that the mineral resource projects construction would boost the national economy in the next 15 years and was the perfect window for investors to invest in the country. Commentary by Petrus GAND
As far as I can recall, when growing up as a child, the world seemed so big. Even the 12-hours day time was more than enough to accomplish many things. That was the moment when our currency afforded us lots of stuff as it had the purchasing power. Families had ample food and even spare monies for clothes, school fees, health care and other essential expenditures. Little children were well fed and fought well with the malnutrition rate. Poverty line was too far to reach. Both formal and informal sector employees were satisfied with their salaries, and were reluctant to take bribes or fascinate unjust conducts. We would have been sustainable today by maintaining a balanced budget, if we had planned well back then. But as years went by, everything fell apart. Our government were seeking assistance overseas as our internal affairs were at the brink of collapse. Our economic leakages were greater than our injections as shown by the economic indicators such as inflation rate, employment gap, export returns and etcetera, leaving fewer hopes for our fiscal and monitory policies to handle them. |
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