Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is adamant that businesses on Manus Island ‘will directly benefit’ from the asylum-seeker deal signed last week by himself and Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd. But some business leaders are sceptical.
Three years ago, ‘Airport Economist’ Tim Harcourt came to Papua New Guinea to see how it was coping after the global financial crisis. In this excerpt from his forthcoming book, Trading Places – The Airport Economist’s Guide to International Business, he reflects on what he found.
Oil Search has reported that while it has discovered only ‘modest’ quantities of natural gas during a new exploration campaign in the Gulf of Papua, it will continue drilling in the area.
Harmony Gold has become the latest gold miner to write-down its Papua New Guinea assets, as a sharp drops in bullion prices force mining companies globally to reassess the profitability of their mines.
The Cairns Chamber of Commerce has opened a branch office in Papua New Guinea’s capital city, Port Moresby.
The luxury cruise line Carnival Australia has signed a three-year deal with AusAID to boost local business tourism opportunities in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
The Bank of Papua New Guinea argues that the government should fund its spending plans from the domestic banking system. Meanwhile, the government is ramping up its borrowing from foreign sources. Who is right?
The Pacific’s tourist sector has been resilient to the falling Australia and New Zealand dollars, according to the July ANZ Bank Pacific Monthly update.
Australia will send up to 50 police officers to Papua New Guinea by the end of the year to help tackle the country’s growing law and order problem. The deal is one of a series of agreements arising from the 21-hour visit to Papua New Guinea this week by Australia’s Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to meet his PNG counterpart, Peter O’Neill.
Telikom PNG is upgrading and expanding its network, after earlier this month signing a K600 million (US$200 million) deal with Chinese technology provider Huawei. Chairman Mahesh Patel outlines where the money will be spent and commits the state-owned telco to improving its customer service.