For a decade since 2013, right after the construction of the PNGLNG project, PNG has been gripped by unemployment crisis that did not improve until it got worse with the Covid19 pandemic. Tens of thousands of job losses and lock-down restrictions on the informal sector pushed families into poverty. This has also opened the window of opportunity for us to rethink the way forward for our people to have financial security and be economically self-reliant.
We will:
- Grow the citizen SME Sector by introducing the ‘Reserve Business List’ legislation and operationalize the Credit Guarantee Corporation. Our target is to have 500,000 citizen MSMEs by 2032;
- Grow the K12 Billion per year informal economy that feeds 95% of our people, through investments in market, water, electricity, roads and digital infrastructure in all Districts;
- Partnerships and collaborations with the private sector for high-impact innovative transformation of agriculture and rural economy, thus creating rural employment and markets;
- Food manufacturing and downstream processing should create jobs, increase income and thereby reduce poverty, improved food security and nutrition for families.
- Investment in non-resource agriculture and fisheries sector to create a future that relies less on the cyclical extractive industry, and provide equitable economic opportunities to all our people.