Country still facing forex issues: BPNG

BANK of PNG (BPNG) governor Loi Bakani says the country continues to face an imbalance of foreign exchange inflows and orders for imports.
Bakani said the imbalance led to some orders left outstanding.
He however said foreign exchange reserve levels were adequate at US$2.5 billion (about K8.6 billion).
“This is enough to cover for about 15 months of non-mining and petroleum sector imports,” Bakani said.
“It’s a comfortable level of reserves that we have but managing it in making sure that it does not go down too far and also making sure that the exchange rate is stable is a main issue for the bank.
“At the moment, the levels of orders that we have in the market now has gone down from over a billion to US$800 million (about K2.8billion).
“This is a big drop and is attributed to the low level of economic economy of economy and growth which declined last year therefore some import orders have been brought down.
“Also we have intervened in the foreign exchange market to support the market and clear off some of those orders.
“The waiting period now is between three to six months.”