PNG aims for balance budget
Papua New Guinea Government has handed down yet again another historic budget – a record K16.2 billion (US$6.19b) in comparison with three previous biggest budgets of US$5.7b in 2014, US$4.9b in 2013, and US$4.01b
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World Bank leads charge for reform
Plans attempt to lift lifestyle Imagine a region where mobile phones and internet access are as common as public buses. Also for a moment picture a region where words like obesity, poverty, illiteracy and gender
Vulnerable states qualify for special privileges
Assistance packages support lending rates Graduation of least developed countries is no conspiracy by bigger and wealthier developed states to absolve them from helping countries that are in need of special assistance,
Time runs out for Samoan airline
Board decides against extension request Fiji’s Air Transport Licensing Board has made a startling revelation surrounding American Samoa based airline Inter Island Airways’ much awaited entry into
More US immigration woes for the Northern Marianas
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has received a five-year extension of a critical programme allowing it continued access to some 10,000 foreign workers up to 2019 for its recovering economy. But it still
Fiji fears force deal with EU to save sugar industry
Viability hangs on interim EPA Fears of the collapse of Fiji’s multi-million dollar sugar industry prompted its government late last month to opt for an Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA) with the
Marshall Islands move into commercial fish farming
‘Moi’ fish farms to expand The history of the Marshall Islands is littered with so many failed attempts to turn aquaculture and fish farming ideas into commercially viable businesses that it is a wonder
Japan’s Abe spurs PNG interest
Gas supplies sufficient for 25 years TWO new Japanese-initiated petrochemical plants – one each in Papua New Guinea and West Papua, Indonesia are set to pick up green lights as feasibility studies open new hopes
LNG project absorbs skilled workers in PNG
Calls for more job training Operators of Papua New Guinea’s new liquefied natural gas export company have trained nearly 10,000 locals for production and delivery roles as the region’s biggest commercial
Selling the Pacific to the world under one roof
SPTE 2014 a ‘success,’ says organisers Pacific’s national tourism offices have given thumbs up to efforts by the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) to organise a regional tourism buyer and
Big construction project in Chuuk in limbo
Legal wrangle holds up road work After huge cost overruns, major delays and problems with faulty designs, the largest construction project ever undertaken in the Federated States of Micronesia is now at a standstill
10,000 foreign workers to go in the Marianas
US Labour Secretary has until July 4 “It will be a disaster,” said Juan T. Guerrero, general manager of the largest and oldest bakery in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as he ponders on the
Logging industry cleans up its act in Solomon Islands
‘Cowboy’ operators worry registered firms In a world that’s becoming increasingly environmentally-friendly, logging is a dirty word. So much so that even commercial banks, conscious of the growing
Banking woes continue to plague Nauru
Uncertainties force banking downgrade Uncertainties in initial assessments on Nauru Island were behind the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s decision not to establish full commercial operations or a community bank as
Chinese yuan, PNG kina open new market of riches
It’s become the Pacific’s 2nd largest donor A new wave of splurge spending by Chinese in the Pacific and Papua New Guinea’s incredible leap into high economic drive with a mid-year opening of LNG
Closing down loopholes, G20 targets tax havens
Cook Islands, Vanuatu under scrutiny Pacific island countries with legitimate tax-haven status like the Cook Islands and Vanuatu risk being isolated and dealt with under new radical plan to force governments and their
BSP posts US$147m profit
‘Bank’s capital base is sound’ Bank South Pacific, the largest bank in Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific has announced more than K400 million (USD147m) in net profit for the 2013 financial year.
Total Oil joins Oil Search for PNG
A new Asia Pacific hub dawns With less than three months of wait left before Papua New Guinea rolls out exports from its US419.12 billion (Kina 52.16 billion) LNG project, Peter O’Neill’s Government has
Cobalt in Cooks awaits exploitation
Could supply 10% of global supply This year could be a defining year for seabed minerals in Cook Islands. There are plans by its government to move a step closer to exploration of its massive cobalt resource, following
Brazil coffee oversupply to hit PNG/Vanuatu
Global production to exceed demand in 2014 As global supply exceeds demand for coffee for a fourth straight year, small world producers like Papua New Guinea and to lesser extent Vanuatu will feel the pinch of exports