Expanding economy for agri, manufacturing vital

By DALE LUMA
THE country’s long-term future depends on broadening its economic base to allow agriculture and domestic manufacturing to flourish, says ANZ PNG managing director Mark Baker.
Baker said it required investment in infrastructure such as roads and power in particular.
“The source of that significant investment can come from the economic benefits that major resources do bring,” he told The National. “The announcement of progress on Papua LNG is very welcome.
“It will be important that all parties involved in the project reach agreement early to allow the project to enter front end engineering and design (Feed) in 2022 and final investment decision (FID) in 2023.
“This has the potential make a significant and positive impact across the PNG economy from 2023 onwards.”
Baker said the Wafi-Golpu project also had the potential to make a real and positive difference to the economy in general and to Morobe specifically, “but also in boosting international investor confidence”.
On foreign currency, he said while the foreign currency reserves had been relatively steady, the supply of foreign exchange to the market remained challenging for PNG’s import-dependent economy.
“This was exacerbated by the extended shutdown at Porgera which is a major supplier of foreign currency to the market.”
Bank of PNG (BPNG) Governor Loi Bakani recently told The National that the country’s foreign reserves were around US$2.5 billion (K8.92bil).
Bakani said foreign exchange inflows for this year were mainly from Government borrowings from overseas while outflows continue to be from government debts servicing also from overseas.