Prime Minister O'Neill: PNG must increase productivity

The PNG Government’s management of the economy has been given the thumbs up by international ratings agency, Standard and Poor’s.

This is very positive news for Papua New Guinea with a B+ rating despite the recent energy price drop. Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill gave the good news to the Leaders Summit last week that Standard and Poor’s still predict growth levels will reach 20 per cent, and they expect LNG exports to contribute to economic growth, enabling the unwinding of imbalances in the next few years.

"We are promoting a strong pro-investment approach by all levels of government, and all levels of our community,” Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said.

"The benefits to come from these investments in Papua New Guinea are clear to our investors. For example, in their fourth quarter report, ExxonMobil highlighted the importance of their Papua New Guinea investment to meet its global production plan and its annual earnings. "It is by far one of their best investments."

"We are now looking to secure the development of new LNG plants, and wider gas sector development, as well as empowering sectors that will last beyond the LNG sector. These are sectors like agriculture, fisheries and tourism."

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said to build these sectors would require hard work from everyone.

"This approach is also going to require us to do something else. This is something that I have spoken about on a number of occasions – we must lift our productivity and improve the infrastructure which is so vital to the growth of our economy.

"Productivity remains a real challenge for us. We cannot afford to be a high-cost producer both in the resources sector, and sectors like agriculture.

"We have to be able to compete not just regionally but internationally. "The PNG LNG story is a wonderful success story as a low cost project, but we need to build on that success – with the development of at least two more substantial projects in the years ahead,” Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill said.

He said the mining sector also continues to be impacted by low world mineral prices but it also brings challenges as well and that is to be addressed through better productivity and a competitive environment.