Sharing nearly 500,000 clients, Papua New Guinea’s micro finance industry is expanding its reach, its numbers and its services. Business Advantage PNG looks at what the industry is offering.
Industry sectors
Puma Energy, which acquired the downstream assets of InterOil Corporation in Papua New Guinea in the the middle of 2014, is planning a major US$220 million upgrade of its Napa Napa refinery outside Port Moresby. According to a senior Puma executive, the upgrade will facilitate not only more reliable domestic supplies of petroleum products, but exports.
The province of Milne Bay is developing as a tourism hub for Papua New Guinea and also hosts agricultural and gold projects. Business Advantage PNG explores its business and investment prospects.
The Papua New Guinea economy is on the edge of a ‘slippery slope’, if the Bank of PNG finances government debt and continues to fix the exchange rate at too high a rate. Former Australian Treasury advisor Paul Flanagan says compounding the problems are rising inflation, falling foreign exchange reserves, and declining private sector credit growth.
Cott Oil and Gas Ltd has undergone a restructure to allow the company to focus on developing what could be Papua New Guinea’s first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project – at the Pandora gas field in the Gulf of Papua. Cott’s Managing Director Andrew Dimsey outlines the company’s plans to Business Advantage PNG.
National carrier Air Niugini is aiming to deliver more choice for Papua New Guinean travellers through the establishment of Link PNG, a new low-cost domestic subsidiary.
The O’Neill government is preparing to deliver its 2015 budget, against a backdrop of rising government debt and rising expenditure. Business Advantage PNG asks what business needs and what we might expect.
The Chairman of Papua New Guinea’s Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC), Paul Nerau, has flagged a ‘tsunami’ of government-backed development projects worth billions of kina, including the relocation of Port Moresby’s port and gas-generated electricity.
The board of Papua New Guinea’s biggest employer, New Britain Palm Oil, has recommended shareholders accept a K5.09 billion (UK 1.07 billion pound) takeover bid from Malaysia’s Syme Darby.
As part of the 2012 Alotau Accord, the O’Neill Government agreed to establish an Infrastructure Development Authority to ‘take ownership’ of Cabinet decisions and oversee major infrastructure projects in Papua New Guinea. Business Advantage PNG spoke recently to the authority’s interim Managing Director, John Kaio.