Too many children in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are missing out on education, limiting the country’s ability to develop its human capital and achieve sustained economic growth. Nearly one in four children of primary or secondary school age is not attending school. Among those who are enrolled,...

To ensure a comprehensive discussion of teacher policies, this report uses the SABER (Systems Approach for Better Education Results) Teachers Framework, a World Bank conceptual framework designed to help assess the quality of teacher policies. The report seeks to identify actionable priorities...

The Government of Papua New Guinea has ambitious goals: to grow the economy to K200 billion by 2030, create one million jobs, and achieve a balanced budget by 2027. Meaningful progress has been made, with sustained fiscal consolidation significantly reducing the fiscal deficit from its COVID-era...

Papua New Guinea's public debt has increased significantly in recent years, leading to a high risk of debt distress and exposing significant gaps in the existing fiscal setting. This paper proposes to strengthen the authorities' fiscal framework by introducing a clear public debt anchor and a...

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is navigating a wide range of macroeconomic and social challenges. The economy was beset by a series of exogenous shocks over the past decade, including low commodity prices, droughts, earthquakes, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which adversely affected growth, contributed to...

The World Bank's Papua New Guinea (PNG) Economic Update offers a comprehensive evaluation of the country's economy, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for sustainable growth, macro-fiscal stability, and development in the face of global trade and policy uncertainties (Part One). In...

This technical assistance conducts a Climate Policy Diagnostic (CPD) for Papua New Guinea, covering climate adaptation and mitigation policy, as well as enabling institutions. Climate-related risks are macro-critical considerations for Papua New Guinea, while the country faces acute policy...

This technical assistance conducts a Climate Policy Diagnostic (CPD) for Papua New Guinea, covering climate adaptation and mitigation policy, as well as enabling institutions. Climate-related risks are macro-critical considerations for Papua New Guinea, while the country faces acute policy...

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a fragile state with acute development needs, unstable social and political environment, and limited capacity. In the past decade, it faced multiple shocks, including natural disasters, that adversely affected growth, contributed to a sharp increase in public debt, and...

Ranked among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, Papua New Guinea is usually portrayed through its risks, from climate-related hazards and environmental pressures to localised insecurity and gender-based violence. But communities across Papua New Guinea are already leading...

In vielen europäischen Staaten steigt die Zahl der Asylanträge ebenso wie der Zuspruch für rechtspopulistische Parteien weiter an. Initiativen wie der Ruanda-Plan der britischen Regierung und das Albanien-Abkommen der italienischen Regierung können als Reaktion darauf verstanden werden. Sie...

An IMF team conducted a Climate Public Investment Management Assessment in Papua New Guinea. This analysis identified some emerging areas of effectiveness related to management of public investment from a climate perspective, but also identified many key weaknesses throughout the public...

On March 22, 2023, the IMF Executive Board approved 38-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements with Papua New Guinea to help address a protracted balance of payments need, manifested in foreign exchange shortages, and to support the authorities' reforms...

The main objective of the FSSR diagnostic mission was to help the PNG authorities build a roadmap of technical assistance (TA) to address identified financial sector needs and gaps, with a view to strengthen resilience of financial institutions and to enhance the policy framework. The PNG FSSR...

About 72 percent of Papua New Guinea's (PNG's) 10-year-olds cannot read well enough to understand an age-appropriate text. These students are at risk of dropping out of school and not being able to continue onto secondary education. PNG's future development hinges on ensuring that a larger...

The objective of the Pacific Observatory is to improve welfare for the poor and vulnerable in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Island Countries through expanding socio-economic information for better data-driven policymaking

This paper examines how an earthquake in Papua New Guinea changed people's attitudes about and the prevalence of intimate partner violence. Although there are several reasons why disasters can aggravate intimate partner violence, among men in disaster-affected regions, the acceptability of...

With the collaboration of the National Energy Authority of Papua New Guinea, the World Bank team launched the first Global Energy Access Households Surveys in Papua New Guinea in 2021 to establish a baseline for tracking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal 7 target 7.1: ensure...

There was substantial growth in the resource sector in Papua New Guinea during the last resource boom, increased revenue collection by the government associated with that growth, and significant increases in international assistance, all which might have translated into improved well-being...

Papua New Guinea has abundant resources in the form of oil and mineral wealth. But a complex set of factors, including systemic gender inequality, underinvestment in non-extractive sectors, and fragility compounded by vulnerability to disasters caused by natural hazards act as barriers to...

The economy has recovered to pre-COVID level but remains below its pre-COVID trajectory. The COVID-19 crisis led to an economic contraction in 2020-21 before recovering by 5.2 percent in 2022. The recovery in the extractive sector was driven by significant improvement in international prices of...

The Integrated Government Information System (IGIS) is a private government network comprising several components such as records and data management services, government email, civil registration, the IGIS portal, IGIS data center & disaster recovery center, IGIS network, and a project...

The International Monetary Fund's mission to Papua New Guinea sought to revitalize the development of fiscal and debt statistics following a period of disruption caused by a ransomware attack, Covid-19, and high staff turnover. To that end, the mission provided a combination of formal training...

A technical assistance mission from the IMF's Statistics Department visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) during August 2-15, 2023, to support the authorities in improving compilation and dissemination of government finance statistics (GFS) and public sector debt statistics (PSDS). The mission assisted...

Background. On March 22, 2023, the IMF Executive Board approved 38-month Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements with Papua New Guinea to help address a protracted balance of payments need manifested in foreign exchange shortages and to support the...

Over the past decade, digital connectivity has emerged as a critical new form of infrastructure, akin to roads, energy or ports-underpinning economic growth and social development. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), the advent of digital connectivity has opened up new avenues for communication,...

In vielen europäischen Staaten steigt die Zahl der Asylanträge ebenso wie der Zuspruch für rechtspopulistische Parteien weiter an. Initiativen wie der Ruanda-Plan der britischen Regierung und das Albanien-Abkommen der italienischen Regierung können als Reaktion darauf verstanden werden. Sie...

The Country Opinion Survey in Papua New Guinea assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in Papua New Guinea perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the...

The role of the exchange rate as a ‘shock absorber’ is often undermined in resource-dependent developing countries when a negative commodity price shock hits the economy. Rather than pursuing greater flexibility, the policymakers rely more on intervention strategies which further aggravates...

This Technical Assistance report discusses Papua New Guinea's Financial Soundness Indicators (FSI) mission. The mission, in collaboration with the Bank of Papua New Guinea staff, updated the bridge tables from the source data for compiling FSIs for deposit takers (DT) and developed new ones to...

This paper focuses on Papua New Guinea's First Reviews under Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and an Arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), and Request for Modification of Quantitative Performance Criteria. Papua New Guinea's economic outlook remains...

This paper presents Papua New Guinea's Requests for an Arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and an Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The 38-month arrangement will support Papua New Guinea's reform agenda, which seeks to help protect the vulnerable and...

High commodity prices and the removal of COVID-19 restrictions spurred economic recovery in 2022. The government continued with fiscal consolidation to safeguard macroeconomic stability. Higher commodity prices contributed to higher inflation and stronger external balances. Economic growth is...