Resource sector to drive growth in PNG

The country’s growth rate will reach 4 per cent this year on the back of many new investments in the resources sector, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says.
O’Neill, speaking at the leaders’ summit in Port Moresby yesterday, said Government wanted to see this growth improve between 2020 and beyond.
“There is global confidence in our economy even before the leaders’ summit,” he said. “We saw this played out in the international bond market. We had been trying to enter the bond market for 20 years and this had been unsuccessful, but this changed last year.
“Our expectations were exceeded when the sovereign bond was oversubscribed by more than 600 per cent. That indicates strong confidence in our economy.
“Today, the bond is rated as one of the best emerging-market bonds in Asia and won multiple awards.
“Our bond is trading very positively in the market.
“We expect that for future bond issues, the costs will be even lower, another source of funds that governments in the future can raise.”
O’Neill said the Government presented the 2019 national budget to Parliament with a total expenditure of close to K16 billion.
He said this was made up of K10.6 billion in operational expenditure and K5.5bil in capital expenditure.
“Our challenge is to get this balance right by making sure that we continue to improve on the capital expenditure,” O’Neill said.
“In line with the medium-term expenditure strategy, expenditure as a percentage of GDP, is down to 18.2 per cent in 2019, and 16 per cent per cent by the year 2022.
“Our Government is also continuing to maintain our debt levels to remain within the 30 per cent of GDP.”