Loi Bakani

The event is seen as the premier forum for the discussion of research and analysis relating to economic and public policy issues on PNG.

This years forum theme is ‘Sustaining development beyond the resources boom.’

The provisional program has indicated key speeches from Secretary for Finanace, Dr Ken Ngangan, Bank of PNG Governor, Loi Bakani, and Minister for National Planning, Charles Abel.

“This financial exposition will give opportunity for the Highlands region and Papua New Guinea as a whole to bring financial services down to people and the activities happening here are for our people and children to open bank accounts to start savings,”  Bakani said this  during the third  Financial Inclusion Expo in Mt Hagen last Friday.

He encouraged people to seek help from the various banks and financial institutions to assist them look after their hard earned cash and make more money with further investments from savings.

O’Neill was responding to Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) which reported that Papua New Guinea's government officers were visiting international financial hubs this week hoping to raise money on the offshore bond market.

Radio New Zealand reported that the Governor of PNG's Central Bank, Loi Bakani, along with the Secretary of the Department of Treasury, Dairi Vele, are scheduled to give presentations in London tomorrow, before heading to Boston and New York.

In its March 2016 Monetary Policy statement, Bank of Papua New Guine Governor Loi Bakani stated that the annual headline inflation was 6.4 percent in 2015, compared to 6.6 percent in 2014.

“This outcome was mainly due to the pass-through effects of the depreciation of the kina exchange rate and the El Niño weather phenomenon, which more than offset the effects of low international food and oil prices, increased competition and cheaper imports.”

He said the domestic debt service burden in 2015 was K991 million and external debt service was K84 million.

This comprised 7.3% and 0.6% of total expenditure, respectively.

Bakani was speaking at the recent 32^nd Australia-PNG Business forum in Cairns pointing out some key economic areas which was raised by critics in the past years and months.

Speaking at the 32^nd Australia-PNG Business Summit in Cairns recently, Bakani said in most instances critics are being misrepresented.

He said the new nominal Gross Domestic Product data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) at end March 2016, showed that the size of the economy is much bigger than earlier estimated.

“We have a very long streak of GDP growth lasting for the last 14 years. In the last five years 2010 to 2015, Nominal GDP grew from K38.6 billion to K64.2 billion, a growth of 69% or on the average by 13.8% per annum.”

In November 2015, the National Parliament passed the 2016 Budget with a planned total expenditure of K14.8 billion, which is 2.4 percent lower than the 2015 Budget estimate, and revenue of K12.7 billion.

The Budget deficit therefore is K2.1 billion or 3.3 percent of GDP.

Bakani, in his Quarterly Economic Bulletin said the K12.7 billion revenue is expected to be largely driven by the mineral and petroleum tax.

He said since the release of the 2016 Budget, international prices for mineral and petroleum has dropped further and are forecast to be even lower.

It will be a prime minister pumped up from an apparently successful visit to India and agreement with that country for soft loans and improved ties between the two countries.

Mr O’Neill will deliver the keynote address this morning at the annual Papua New Guinea Advantage Investment Summit.

The summit is a two-day conference on “the Pacific’s fastest growing economy and Australia’s nearest neighbor …..Papua New Guinea’’.