Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey emphasised that Papua New Guinea needs to strengthen economic relations with the world’s largest economy.
He made this statement after he and Prime Minister James Marape met with US President, Joe Biden today at the White House in Washington, DC.
“The United States economy is the largest in the world, valued at $US26,854 billion (K97,650bn) in 2023, according to the latest IMF figures.
“This is still nearly 40 percent larger than the second largest economy of China, of $ US19,373 billion (K70, 447bn).
“Even by 2028, based on IMF estimates, the US economy is estimated to still be 18 percent larger than the Chinese economy, with the US economy at US$32,349 billion (K117,632bn) compared to China’s economy of US$27,492 billion (K99,971bn).
“By 2028, we expect India to have become the third largest economy at US$5,575 billion (K20, 272bn), with an estimated growth rate of 77 percent from 2021 to 2028.
“However, this is still only about one-fifth the size of either the US and China.
“These are the fundamental facts. The US economy is still the largest in the world and is likely to hold this lead role until the early 2030s. This means that PNG must build good economic relations with the United States to maximise the chances of trade opportunities, investment and jobs for our people.”
Ling-Stuckey said this was a key theme of the Government team’s visit to the US this week.
“There remains much that can be done to strengthen our economic relationship with the United States.
“PNG’s trade patterns with the United States are relatively small. Based on the latest United Nations data, PNG’s exports to the US were only US$93 million in 2022, while imports totalled US$129 million. This is much smaller than our exports to Australia of US$4,034 million, and imports from Australia of US$1,762 million, despite the Australian economy at US$1,797 million; being less than one-tenth of the US economy.
“PNG’s trade linkages are much stronger with other countries also, such as Japan and China.
“These trade data highlight just one example where some hard work and strategic alignment could dramatically grow these economic linkages. Better economic relations with the world’s largest economy would be good for incomes and jobs in PNG, and this is why we travel to meet US leaders to help build these relationships.”
(Prime Minister James Marape and Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey meeting US President, Joe Biden, today at the White House in Washington, DC)