Economy

ETIQUETTE: “For every village a different culture” is the expression that best describes the social norms, cultures and languages of Papua New Guinea’s population. Most locals will greet you with a warm smile, and the salutation “monin tru”(“a very good morning”) is considered the polite...

Papua New Guinea’s market is remarkably open in terms of trade. Over the past two decades the country has gone from being a high-tariff jurisdiction pursuing 1970s-style goals of protection and import substitution, to one that embraces free market principles. The tenets of the Washington Consensus were accepted and implemented in a phased...

While Papua New Guinea has a free and open economy, it is also a place where it can be exceedingly challenging to do business. General conditions are difficult, and some areas of administration and law can cause things to progress at a slow pace. The US State Department’s 2016 Investment Climate statement noted that the country “appears to...

The international position of Papua New Guinea has improved in recent years as the country continues to benefit from a number of positive trends. A stabilisation in commodity prices, strong output from the country’s major projects and an end to the El Niño drought have brought major trade indicators back into line. The lack of dollars and the...

Despite some weak headline numbers, Papua New Guinea’s economy is set to see a recovery in 2017. Depreciation of the kina and the shortage of US dollars have slowed imports and led to pockets of strength. Robust activity at the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) level and in the informal sector is being observed, while key statistics,...

Papua New Guinea was well prepared for the 2008 financial crisis, as it had reduced its debt and had some room to manoeuvre. The country’s obligations dropped from around 70% of GDP in the early 2000s to about 20% a decade later. This, in part, explains why the crisis was so short lived, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However,...