Given the delicate state of Papua New Guinea’s economy, as indicated by recent World Bank and Asian Development Bank forecasts, the news last month that the final legislative hurdle for the Papua LNG project had been delivered is welcome.
Posts by Andrew Wilkins
What do Virgin Australia, Westpac, Norton Rose Fulbright and Horizon Oil have in common? As you may have noted, they are all companies that have effectively signalled a scaling back of, or end to, their PNG presence in the past year.
Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t surprise us any more, Papua New Guinea’s politicians delivered a November parliamentary session to remember.
Last week, I sat down with the heads of three of Papua New Guinea’s leading companies – Kina Bank, Steamships Trading Company and Paradise Foods – to discuss leadership during COVID-19, among other topics.
Reform is in the air in Papua New Guinea, with the country’s resources sector facing major legislative changes. On the other hand, the government faces its own reform challenges if it is to secure the funding it needs to address its budget deficit.
With Papua New Guinea’s government deciding that the country must now to learn to live with COVID-19, one could argue that the first chapter of PNG’s encounter with the global pandemic has come to an end.
The year 2020 looks like being a watershed year for Papua New Guinea, with a number of transformative projects awaiting the green light and a new government seeking to implement an ambitious agenda.
Infrastructure has been the subject of heavy discussion in the past month. Unreliable telecommunications and utilities were two of the major impediments identified by our 2020 PNG 100 CEO Survey, and I was able to ask State Enterprises Minister Sasindran Muthuvel about the government’s plans to reform PNG Power, Kumul Telikom and other state-owned enterprises at a special POMCCI breakfast last month.
You always have to be prepared for surprises in PNG, but it certainly looks like the ExxonMobil-led P’nyang gas project will not proceed in its current form, following the Government’s withdrawal from negotiations over the gas agreement for the project.
New island resort opens in Papua New Guinea