Domestic activity declining, says BPNG

DOMESTIC activity declined last year due to the contraction in global economy, Bank of PNG (BPNG) says.
The bank, in its March-June 2020 quarterly economic bulletin released yesterday, noted that impacts of the Covid-19 had affected the country’s economy.
With the contraction in global activity in 2020, governor Loi Bakani said that global inflation was expected to remain subdued.
“Most of the major central banks have eased monetary policy and provided support to their respective Governments’ fiscal stimulus measures to encourage growth,” he said.
“The contraction in global activity has adversely affected the PNG economy and with the various containment measures imposed by the Government for the Covid-19 pandemic, domestic activity has also declined in 2020.”
Whilst the slowdown in global activity was affecting domestic economic activity, Bakani mentioned that these developments had assisted to reduce impact of foreign inflation on domestic prices.