EDITOR’S NOTE: Michael McWalter, former Director, Petroleum Division and Adviser to the Government of Papua New Guinea, and erstwhile petroleum adviser to the Governments of Ghana, Liberia, Cambodia, Sao Tome, and South Sudan, comments on PNG’s oil and gas industry and changes to the petroleum regime made, muted, abandoned and planned. Optimising Benef...

by Andrew Anton Mako Blessings The Porgera goldmine in Enga Province offered so much promise when it began production in 1990 – a modern way of life and improved living standards for the landowners and surrounding communities, with access to modern health, education, and other social services. Before the closure of the mine in April 2020, it had pro...

Article by Lotte Schou-Zibell, Arndt Husar The Internet of Things—a rapidly growing network of connected devices—can help bring financial services to those most in need. The Internet-of-Things (IoT), defined as “software, sensors and network connectivity embedded in physical devices, buildings and other items that enable those objects to collect and...

Commentary by: Stephen Howes and Alyssa Leng When we think of resource-dependent economies, we normally think of the Middle East, and economies like Saudi Arabia. Where does Papua New Guinea fit in? Data available from the UN allows us to isolate value added in the resources sector from the rest of the economy (resource GDP). The ratio of resource t...

Commentary by Stephen Howes, Kingtau Mambon and Kelly Samof The urban minimum wage has been an important part of Papua New Guinea’s economic history. In the last few years before independence (in 1975), it was greatly increased. In the decade or so after independence, it was widely regarded as too high. In 1992, it was slashed, merged with the rural mi...

Photo: Roadworks on the Malahang-China Town Road in Lae, August 2022 (LAE OPEN Electorate - JOHN ROSSO Dps MP/Facebook) Commentary by Alyssa Leng Inadequate funding has meant roads are few, far between and in poor condition across Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby is not connected by road to either the industrial hub of Lae or the agricultural and popu...

by Kingtau Mambon and Stephen Howes Papua New Guinea has been facing fiscal problems since the end of its economic boom almost a decade ago, with large deficits, increasing debt, falling revenue, and a rapidly growing salary bill. The COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse by depressing revenue. But the recently released 2021 Final Budget Outcome cont...

Prime Minister James Marape receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in April 2021 (PNG PM Media) Article by Stephen Howes National elections will be held in PNG in the middle of this year. Elections are held every five years, and are very popular events. Though voting is voluntary, voter turnout is just below that of Australia, where voting is compulsory. An e...

Photo:Students in Kimbe West Britain PNG Article by Grant Walton and Husnia Hushang It’s back! This year Papua New Guinea (PNG) will implement another fee-free education policy. In June 2021, the government announced that, for the fifth time in PNG’s history, parents will no longer have to pay school fees to send their children to school. This ne...

Photo credit: Australian High Commission by Stephen Howes When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Australian government reversed its earlier policy of cutting aid, and started to increase it. Aid increased from 2019/20 (before the pandemic) from $4.29 billion to $4.56 billion in 2020/21 (the first year of the pandemic). (All amounts are adjusted for inf...

Photo credit: Devpolicy by Stephen Howes Yesterday, Telstra announced that it was buying Digicel Pacific. Telstra itself is only paying $270 million, and the Australian government $1.33 billion. Yet, Telstra is obtaining 100% ownership. The deal is certainly an attractive one for Telstra. But does it make sense for Australia, and for the Pacific? ...

Photo: Joyce Bay settlement (Desmond Narongou) by Desmond Narongou Joyce Bay settlement, formerly known as Horse Camp, is a notorious settlement in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG). It has been known for criminal activity, and as a place where many criminals live. The settlement is located in the Port Moresby South Electorate of the National ...

Women selling coconut and bottle gourd in Intoap, PNG (P. Mathur/Bioversity International/Flickr) The socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 are devastating communities in the Pacific and Timor-Leste as much as the virus itself, and sometimes to an even greater extent. World Vision surveyed 752 households (with an average of six people per household) in...

In a commentary of Stephen Howes, Director of the Development Policy Center and a Professor of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy, shared his opinion and discussed how the June ASEAN agricultural visa announcement could develop or evolve. He noted three possibilities. First point he made is the possibility that Asian countries will by al...

Background – Petroleum Industry in Papua New Guinea The exploration for petroleum in Papua New Guinea has a long history which dates back to early 1900s. It began with a group of Australian geologists who first came in 1913 to PNG to investigate prospects of hydrocarbon on behalf of the Australian Government. Since then exploration activities went on ...

By Roger Kewa Avinaga Like any other industries that have been impacted by the COVID-19 in 2020, the mining industry has been impacted by the pandemic. The industry has been confronted with numerous challenges. The operations of the mines shut down, some mines have suspended or scaled down operations while others have gone into isolation mode. On the comm...