Now in its fifth month, Papua New Guinea’s drought is having its biggest impact in high altitude locations and on the fringe of the Central Highlands, according to agricultural scientist, Dr Mike Bourke. He told Business Advantage PNG that this year’s drought is at least as bad as the 1997 drought, which affected nearly a million people in rural PNG. Agricultural scientist Dr Mike Bourke, who has been working continuously in PNG since 1970 and

Yesterday, Papua New Guinea’s Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch presented both the 2016 National Budget and a Supplementary Budget for 2015. Both budgets – highly anticipated given the PNG Government’s need to address lower revenues – make cuts to projected expenditure and find additional revenue resources in order to keep the budget deficit under control. First, the good news. Government revenues are now expected to be K12.64 billion for 2015, compared to K11.85 billion in 2014, and

Despite being the biggest Pacific nation, Papua New Guinea is lagging behind its neighbours, holding only 10% of the regional tourism market, says the Governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea, Loi Bakani. And on a global scale, PNG ranks last in terms of benefitting economically from tourism activity. Although endowed with rich environmental and cultural resources, the tourism industry has contributed little to PNG’s economic growth, the Governor of the Bank of Papua

The entry of the global French-based energy giant, Total SA, has prompted the first French-only trade delegation to Papua New Guinea, which will visit Port Moresby and Lae next week. Delegation Leader, Arthur Lenoir, explains the rationale for the trip to Business Advantage PNG. Business Advantage PNG (BAPNG): How many people are part of your delegation to PNG? Arthur Lenoir (AL): The French Delegation to PNG consists of 12 different companies, 20 people in total,

The suspension of a second mine in Papua New Guinea has highlighted the impact of the El Nino drought, which is also severely affecting the agriculture industry. Just how long the drought continues for will determine the long-term effects, according to Paul Barker, the Executive Director of the Institute of National Affairs. The second mine to be suspended because of the drought is the Porgera gold mine in the Highland’s Enga province. Barrick (Niugini) Ltd,

IPA changes for 2016  Over the past 2 years, the IPA has been undergoing a significant process of reform with the aim of moving its functions wholly online. This process has also been in conjunction with amendments to the Companies Act which, among other matters, have introduced changes for compliance processes for entities that are operating in PNG. The Companies Act amendments have been passed and gazetted – but the implementation through the Registrar of

As Papua New Guinea’s business community continues to face foreign exchange shortages, ANZ Bank has called for a relaxation of the enforced trading band for the kina. Meanwhile, analysts say the kina is facing further downward pressure from the US dollar. Since the Bank of Papua New Guinea, the country’s central bank, restricted the trading range for the PNG kina and the US dollar in June 2014, ANZ analysts Glenn Maguire and Dan Wilson say