MP questions weakening Kina

Over the last six months, the buying power of the kina has gradually spiraled downwards as observed by the Member for Chuave, Wera Mori.
In a recent visit to a remote area, the locals who also observed the drop, questioned the Member as to why that was happening, as the daily purchasing of goods and services, was getting increasingly costly.Today, in parliament, Mr Mori extended the question to the newly appointed Treasury Minister, Patrick Pruaitch.

Given the fact, that a majority of Papua New Guineans are rural based, the Member for Chuave, Wera Mori, told parliament that what the people are experiencing is contradicting an ADB Report that predicted that, Papua New Guinea’s growth rate is at 6 percent and will sky–rocket to 21 percent in the next year.
Mr. Mori questioned Treasury Minister, Patrick Pruaitch, to explain the economics as to why the PNG economy is growing at such a fast rate, backed by the announcement of the first LNG shipment, but yet the PNG Kina continues to spiral downwards. He said over the last 6 months, he observed that to buy one thousand Australian Dollars it was K2, 200 and now it’s about K3000.

The Treasury Minister assured parliament that it was a temporary thing, mostly to do with the exchange of foreign currency in the country, due to the PNG LNG Projects construction phase, as most transactions were done using US Dollars, which affects the PNG Kina’s buying power.



He assured the people of Papua New Guinea that once the receipts of LNG, in terms of proceeds are received, the PNG Kina will be stabilized.

 

PNG Today / EMTV