PNG to experience record economic growth, concerns over who will benefit Updated Thu 3 Apr 2014, 12:45pm An Asian Development Bank economist has warned that despite unprecedented economic growth forecast for Papua New Guinea, the gap between rich and poor will widen. The latest Asian Development Outlook report has predicted growth of six per cent this year, leaping to 21 per cent in 2015. The Asian Development Banks PNG economist, Aaron Batten, says the boom will come mostly from the onset of liquid natural gas exports. But Mr Batten cautions that outside of the mining and petroleum industries the PNG economy is slowing dramatically. What we do expect to happen is that over the next couple of years as growth becomes more concentrated in the mining and petroleum sectors is a slowing of that job creation and new income earning opportunities in PNG, he said. Mr Batten says the benefits of the massive economic growth expected in PNG may only be felt by a lucky few involved in the resources sector. However, the ExxonMobil PNG LNG project, which will come on line later this year, may produce tangible benefits for all Papua New Guineans. Aaron Batten says a fund set from the PNG LNG projects royalties should lead to more spending on public services. The Sovereign Wealth Fund can play a very important role in helping PNG to mitigate some of the adverse effects of its dependency on mining and petroleum projects, particularly in smoothing out some of the volatility that is typical of these types of economies, he said
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 09:22:00 +0000
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