Lae Chamber of Commerce

The Pro-Active Voice of the Morobe Business Sector

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Author: The Editor

PNG 2015 Budget analysis dealing with debt and deficits

Despite much that is good in the 2015 Budget, the Papua New Guinea government’s medium-term fiscal plans are a concern, writes Paul Flanagan, former senior executive in the Australian Treasury, and advisor to the PNG Treasury from 2011 to 2013. Papua New Guinea is facing growing economic problems, with foreign exchange controls hurting businesses and […]

China and India’s growing business links with PNG and the Pacific

Pacific leaders have been the recipients of largesse from India’s Prime Minister and China’s President, who met in Fiji last week. Meanwhile, a new ANZ report details the increasingly close links between China’s aid and its investment in the Pacific. China’s President Xi Jinping met with the leaders of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa, […]

Launch of Link PNG marks start of expansion plans for PNG’s national carrier

Air Niugini is looking to expand its services to other Melanesian countries from 2015, and possibly China in coming years. The plans follow the launch of its new low-cost domestic subsidiary, Link PNG, which has implications for other state-owned enterprises. Air Niugini’s chairman Sir Frederick Reiher made the announcement of more international flights, as he […]

Two New PNG TV Players Launch Pay and Free-To-Air Channels

The two new players in Papua New Guinea’s TV industry this week began selling their set top boxes as they launched a total of 54 new free-to-air and pay channels. Global telecommunications giant Digicel this week launched Digicel Play, which will offer 29 channels by the end of 2014, while the new entrant to the […]

Record Budget and higher deficit feature in 2015 PNG Budget forecasts

The Papua New Guinea Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch has presented a record K16.2 billion national budget for 2015, but with an increased deficit to K2.272 billion. In his Budget speech, Pruaitch forecasts the economy to grow by 15.5 per cent ‘driven by a full calendar year of gas production and supported by a rebound in the […]

Margin squeeze sparks reality bite in mining

Despite the debate around the boom, there is little doubt that Australian exporters are under pressure – with a declining iron ore price, increased production volumes from lower-cost producers, long-term decline in ore grades, and an increase in the level of impurities for junior miners making an impact. This has put cost reduction in the […]

ICT industry shake-up continues in PNG with complementary merger

Allcom PNG and mcr PNG have become the latest technology services companies in Papua New Guinea to consolidate after announcing a merger that will see the enlarged entity realise a number of operational synergies. Business Advantage PNG talks to Luke Byer, Managing Director of the new entity. Growing demand for information and communications technology (ICT) […]