PRIME Minister James Marape has ordered Papua New Guinea’s economic leadership to shift its focus from public spending to raising revenue through a stronger non-resource sector, setting targets for a K200 billion economy by 2030 and K500 billion by 2050.
Marape delivered the directive at Melanesian House during the rollout of the Growth and Economic Reform National Coordinating Committee (GER-NCC), a cross-agency body intended to cut bureaucratic red tape and speed up structural economic reforms.
“Everything else you hear today, if you forget, go away with these two numbers K200 billion economy, K50 billion budget…minimum starting point,” Marape said, referring to a current K140 billion economy and a proposed K50 billion national budget.
He set further targets of a K300 billion economy by 2040 and K500 billion by 2050. The committee, chaired by Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey, is modelled on the State’s Financial Action Task Force committee.
Treasury models indicate that increasing real non-resource growth by 0.1 per cent each year would add K709 billion to gross domestic product by 2050. The combined contribution of seven planned major resource projects, including Papua LNG, Wafi-Golpu and Pasca, is projected at K189 billion by that year.
Marape said the growth targets were urgent, pointing to 2024 national census data showing 59 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s population is under 25.
He urged departments to accelerate land mobilisation, infrastructure upgrades and policy coordination to create employment for the incoming generation.
“If these statistics don’t ring an alarm bell in your head, you’re running around as a leper in our country – numb and not feeling anything,” he said.
“A child at 25 today will be a father of three or four 10 years from today. He must be employed to look after his children. Time flies, and we cannot waste time,” Marape said.
The GER-NCC will operate as a coordination mechanism, not a separate government agency, supported by an annual K10 million budget for a Secretariat within the Department of Treasury.
It will bring together chief executives from 22 state bodies, including the Central Bank, Internal Revenue Commission, and the Departments of Finance, Agriculture, and National Planning. The Business Council of PNG and PNG Chamber of Commerce and Industry will participate as observers.
The committee is to meet monthly, with technical working groups meeting weekly.
A single “Reform Matrix” will track agency progress, while non-performance will be escalated and quarterly progress updates delivered to the National Executive Council.
