Prime Minister James Marape said he had used the opportunity of his state visit to Australia “to sell my country” to the greater Australian public to invest in PNG’s already large Australian investment base.
During his joint conference on Monday with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, PM Marape highlighted his vision for the country to be economically robust and secure. “We need to build a robust economy, a solid economic country that is not so much dependent on our foreign aid. ![]() Papua New Guinea's STATE-owned enterprises (SOEs) are in serious crisis and in complete disarray, and the Minister for State Enterprises Sasindran Muthuvel has ordered a review of all of them. The minister told The National that initial reports presented to the Government indicated that PNG’s key SOEs had almost K6billion in debts. “While some of these debts have been incurred for projects that have generated real economic value, in many instances major investment projects have progressed without adequate planning or due diligence and based on questionable assumptions,” Muthuvel said. ![]() Since independence, agriculture has been the basis for livelihoods of more than 80 per cent of PNG’s population and has contributed up to 30 per cent of the annual Gross Domestic Product. Food and Agriculture Organisation country representative Ken Shimizu, pictured, responds to questions from Business reporter DALE LUMA Question: With the government now focusing on the agricultural sector, do you think it can be a major economic driver for Papua New Guinea? ![]() THE construction of the PNG-CIAIPP was signed in November 2017 between PNG’s authorities and CRI under China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt Road Initiative (BRI). The signing was to facilitate the transfer of State land-use rights for the construction of agricultural industrial parks that feature godown facilities for the shipping of fresh green produce exports to China. Under the agreement, the Chinese company will own the right to use land in the Eastern and Western Highlands for 99 years for BRI-linked agriculture industrial parks. PNG’s active participation in the construction of the BRI-linked infrastructure will greatly enhance PNG’s socio-economic growth by generating enormous opportunities for international and regional cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to PNG Xue Bing told Xinhua last year. In 2014, China and PNG established a strategic partnership featuring mutual respect and common development, which has charted the course of the development of bilateral relations. Two years later, the two countries signed several cooperation documents, including a framework agreement on development cooperation on production capacity to bring their cooperation into the BRI “express lane”. ![]() The Papua New Guinea Government aims to grow revenue to K15 billion in the next few years under the Medium Term Development Plan 3 (MTDP3). Minister for National Planning and Monitoring Richard Maru told Parliament last week that the MTDP3 was the guiding plan for a five-year period ending in 2022. He was responding to questions in the parliament from Southern Highlands Governor William Powi regarding the Government’s plans on service delivery. ![]() The opposition has responded to the government’s latest economic update, claiming it has breached the legal 35 per cent limit in the debt-to-GDP ratio by 50 per cent in 2018. It said the statement in Parliament last week by Treasurer Sam Basil while containing some credible new facts, contradicts issues with GDP updates produced by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Shadow Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey said the figures used in the speech included “valuation” effects, “contingency liabilities” and the issue with the differentiation in figures between NSO and Treasury. “The bottom line is that PNG’s debt to GDP ratio was at least 50 per cent at the end of 2018,” Mr Ling-Stuckey said. |
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