Palm oil was the biggest mover in the month, while gold, coffee and oil prices remain strong. Gas prices, however, continue to be weak and in the currency markets, the kina continues its slide against the yen. Business Advantage PNG’s monthly overview of commodity and financial markets.
The Papua New Guinea government faces challenges in managing its cash flow, according to Yurendra Basnett, PNG Country Economist for the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ADB’s Outlook 2016 paper on the Asian region says PNG’s debt servicing costs are likely to rise.
Financial institution Moni Plus is preparing to list on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Managing Director David Kelso tells Business Advantage PNG that the company intends to expand its shareholder base and move into new markets.
The key to boosting the use of mobile phone banking services in the Pacific is ‘trust’ in the system, particularly as mobile phone providers themselves begin providing financial services, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Bank of PNG has granted exemptions to some PNG insurance companies from the tight foreign exchange restrictions, to enable the general insurers to meet their reinsurance commitments to international reinsurers.
Papua New Guinea’s currency, the kina, has fallen over the last year; many are predicting it will go lower. Business Advantage PNG talks exclusively to two analysts about where the currency is headed and how it will affect business conditions.
The CEO of Papua New Guinea’s largest superannuation fund expects 2016/17 to be another year of low growth, with a pickup from 2018 onwards. Nambawan Super’s Garry Tunstall also tells Business Advantage PNG he expects the fund will slightly increase its international investments this year.
In spite of a ‘challenging’ 2015 and tough market conditions, the latest Bank South Pacific analysis suggests that the ‘worst period may be over’ in Papua New Guinea. However, it is cautious about the prospects for the government’s planned US$1 billion ‘circuit breaker’ sovereign bond issue.
The current rise in the US dollar is likely to flatten in 2016, offering respite to Pacific curencies, according to ANZ economists, Glenn Maguire and Eugin Lee.
The creation of a registry of personal assets to be used as loan security will boost the small business sector, according to Moses Liu, the Managing Director of the National Development Bank.