ANZ forecasts positive economic growth for PNG

THE Australia New Zealand Bank (ANZ) forecasts a positive economic growth for the country on the back of upcoming resource projects.
According to the bank’s Pacific outlook, businesses investment is expected to turnaround in the second half of the year.
The next tranche of gas projects will be the initial driver with Papua LNG anticipated to go into Feed (Front End Engineering Design) by June this year, laying the groundwork for a much-vaunted construction boom from late 2023 into 2024.
“We expect a very strong second half of the decade when Papua LNG and the gold/copper Wafi-Golpu mine come online,” according to the research by ANZ.
“Work on the upstream P’nyang fields commence and investments in electrification, telecommunications and renewable energy projects ramp up,” it said.
“The PNG LNG debt will be repaid mid-decade, providing the state with increases in dividends and taxes to broaden the base of economic drivers late in the decade.
“In the interim, the economy will get a fillip from government expenditure and elevated national income, boosted by an uplift in commodity prices. Ongoing road works, up and down the country, will support activity; but overall we expect another soft year, with business investment unlikely to rev up until 2023.
“Gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to increase by 2.1 per cent in 2022 before strengthening to 5.6 per cent next year and averaging about eight per cent per year through to the end of this decade.”