Govt must focus on growing the GNP

 I WRITE this to better explain why the government should focus more on reporting the country’s gross national product (GNP) instead of the gross domestic product (GDP).
The GDP relates to the overall and total growth of PNG’s economy (taking into account both foreign and national or Papua New Guinean business and production output combined).
The GNP, on the other hand, is what the national or Papua New Guinean component of the country’s economic output is.
Whilst the GDP is a good overall indicator of economic growth, it does not give a reliable picture on how Papua New Guineans are actually benefitting from the country’s current strong economic growth.
The GDP also does not give a good indication of how lucrative PNG economic cake is being divided between foreigners and Papua New Guineans.
Foreigners have been grabbing a large share of PNG’s current rapid economic growth through better access to business opportunities as they have better managers, large financial resources, better networking, market access and etc.
Also a large part of the GDP (foreign component) ends up leaving the country in the form of repatriated wages for foreign workers, profits, retained earnings and dividend payments for foreign shareholders.
Therefore, when it comes to promoting and protecting the interests of Papua New Guineans in business and wealth creation, the government must focus solely on growing the GNP at every opportunity.
Consistent GNP growth is a more reliable and accurate indicator of wealth creation for Papua New Guineans hence should be the primary focus of any good and responsible government.
I urge the government to now concentrate and focus on highlighting the GNP and also show by how much it is growing every year.
The government must also regularly and consistently formulate new innovative, effective and achievable intervention policies and measures that will allow Papua New Guineans to have better access to good business skills and management training, better financial resources, market access, information technology and etc, to ensure a level playing field.
In doing so, a strong and vibrant enterprising generation of hardworking Papua New Guineans can be nurtured and mentored to become more prosperous and responsible citizens, who will then all aggregately contribute to push up the GNP, in whatever business they excel in.
I also believe that any good government that succeeds in significantly growing the GNP will see a related drop in unemployment, poverty, crime and a higher standard of living for the people nationwide. 

Joshua Geno
Port Moresby