AN American academic says Papua New Guinea should not be dependent on its impact resources for the growth of its economy.
Washington and Lee University assistant professor Martin Davies said the impact resources (oil and gas) which he referred to as “golden bullets” would not provide the growth that the country’s economy needed through its gross domestic product (GDP) because of constant unstable energy prices.
Davies said PNG needed to concentrate more on non-resource GDP to ensure stability in economic growth.
“PNG’s economy is very interesting whereas the inflation rate does not do much when the economy expands or contracts,” he said.
“We had an LNG export boom which came as a shock and now the export receipts are less into the country.
“Of course the golden bullet that refers to impacted resource projects, you don’t want to rely on them for growth as these can be unstable.
“The real way to improve living standards in the country is agricultural productivity and that’s the key.”
Davies said however he was pleased to note that the country was now placing more attention being placed in development of the non-resource sector.
Washington and Lee University assistant professor Martin Davies said the impact resources (oil and gas) which he referred to as “golden bullets” would not provide the growth that the country’s economy needed through its gross domestic product (GDP) because of constant unstable energy prices.
Davies said PNG needed to concentrate more on non-resource GDP to ensure stability in economic growth.
“PNG’s economy is very interesting whereas the inflation rate does not do much when the economy expands or contracts,” he said.
“We had an LNG export boom which came as a shock and now the export receipts are less into the country.
“Of course the golden bullet that refers to impacted resource projects, you don’t want to rely on them for growth as these can be unstable.
“The real way to improve living standards in the country is agricultural productivity and that’s the key.”
Davies said however he was pleased to note that the country was now placing more attention being placed in development of the non-resource sector.