Francis Hualupmomi

O’Neill says economy not in recession

“Absolutely not, inflation goes up and down but it has averaged 6 per cent over the last 15 years and it won’t change in one (year),” Prime Minister O’Neill told Loop PNG.

He also appealed to Papua New Guineans to have confidence in the country’s Government and management of the economy.

Bank of Papua New Guinea Monetary Policy Statement for the month of September 2016 forecasted the annual inflation rate to reach 7.5 per cent in 2017 because of excessive government spending to fund the 2017 National Elections and 2018 APEC meeting.

PNG economy shows signs of recession: academic

 Francis Hualupmomi, a political scientist and a PhD student in Public Policy in the School of Government at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand said our currency is depreciating sharply against foreign currencies.

“This holds true on the exchange rate,” Hualupmomi said.

“It appears clearly that the currency is not necessarily affected by the US dollar but by domestic macroeconomic management.

Decision on uplifting trade restriction in coming weeks

This followed a fact finding trip to Papua New Guinea approved by the Fiji Government concluded this week.

The delegation included Fiji Trade Commissioner to PNG Navitalai Tuivuniwai, Biosecurity Authority (BAF) of Fiji chief veterinarian Dr Sian Watson, BAF chief plant protection officer Nilesh Ami Chand, and BAF trade facilitation and compliance team leader Ronal Prasad.

Fiji trade restriction must be lifted for fair play: Political scientist

“Trade between or among countries is based on win-win situations. Trade reflects the competitiveness and comparative advantage of a country,” says Francis Hualupmomi, a political scientist and a PhD student in Public Policy in the School of Government at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

“And for this to take place and promote economic development and growth, free and open trade guided by rules of the game to ensure fair play is necessary.

“Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case for the trade relations between PNG and Fiji over certain issues.