Economics and statistics

Papua New Guinea is a resource-oriented economy based on mining (gold, copper) and oil and gas (LNG projects), supplemented by agricultural exports (coffee, cocoa, palm oil, copra), fishing and embryonic tourism.

Vulnerabilities - dependence on commodity prices, infrastructure gaps between cities and remote areas, logistics costs and low financial inclusion; at the same time, mobile banking/QR payments and digital state services in PGK are gradually growing.

Monetary policy is focused on the exchange rate stability of the kina, inflation control and the availability of currency for imports.

The gambling industry takes a small share of GDP, but provides licensing fees, taxes/levy on machines and GGR, as well as employment in hotel and entertainment clusters.

Supervision is conducted by NGCB, emphasis is on KYC/eKYC, AML/CFT, responsible play (18 +) and technical certification.

The growth potential of the sector is associated with improved transport and energy supply, the development of cashless payments and tourism projects, while gray online and high transaction costs remain key challenges.