List of illustrations

Figures

Figure 1.1: GDP growth, 1976–2022 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 1.2: GDP and non-resource GDP per person, and the four periods of PNG’s economic history, 1976/1983–2022 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 1.3: PNG commodity export price index (2010 = 1), 1976–2022

Figure 1.4: Estimated per person subsoil (non-renewable resource) asset value for 2018 in USD, the top 50 countries

Figure 2.1: GDP and non-resource GDP growth, 1977–88 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 2.2: GDP and non-resource GDP per person, 1976–88 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 4.1: GDP and non-resource GDP growth, 1989–2003 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 4.2: GDP and non-resource GDP per person, 1988–2003 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 5.1: Government recurrent goods and services per person, 1989–2022 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 6.1: GDP and non-resource GDP growth, 2004–13 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 6.2: GDP and non-resource GDP per person, 2003–13 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 6.3: GDP growth by sector, 2003–13 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 7.1: Mobile phones in use in PNG over time, 2000–19

Figure 8.1: Real GDP and non-resource GDP growth, 2014–22 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 8.2: Real GDP and non-resource GDP per person, 2013–22 (kina, constant prices)

Figure 8.3: Air arrivals to Papua New Guinea, 1996–2019

Figure 8.4: Top two business constraints according to PNG CEOs, 2014–24

Figure 9.1: Salary and interest as a percentage of own revenue, 1989–2022

Figure 9.2: PNG exports to and imports from Australia and China, 2000–20

Figure 10.1: The best and worst of times—the noughties and the tens. An analysis using period average growth rates.

Figure 10.2: The most stable and volatile of times—the seventies/eighties and the nineties. An analysis based on growth volatility, inflation and depreciation

Figure 10.3: The most unusual of times—the tens. Index analysis, setting the average in the tens to 100%

Figure 10.4: GDP per person in PNG, Botswana and Malaysia, 1975–2020

Figure 10.5: GDP per person in 1980 and GDP per person growth rate, 1980–2020, for a large number of countries, with PNG represented as a diamond

Figure 10.6: Immunisation rates for measles—PNG, low-income and lower-middle-income countries 1984–2022

Figure 12.1: PNG’s ranking on the Worldwide Governance Indicators effective government index, 1996–2022

Figure 12.2: Constraints to business, 2002–17

Figure 12.3: A political economy model of PNG—the hyper-political, insecurity trap

Tables

Table 3.1: International comparison of costs (1993)

Table 5.1: The three structural adjustment programs of the nineties

Table 6.1: Advertised property sale prices, 1985–2010 (kina, constant prices)

Table 8.1: PNG credit ratings, 1999–2022

Table 10.1: Population over the four periods

Table 10.2: Growth and employment—period averages

Table 10.3: The structure of the economy—period averages

Table 10.4: Commodity prices and exports—period averages

Table 10.5: Resource exports—period averages

Table 10.6: Non-resource commodity exports—period averages

Table 10.7: Exports, imports, the current account balance (CAB) and foreign exchange (FX) reserves—period averages

Table 10.8: The financial sector—period averages

Table 10.9: The exchange rate and inflation—period averages

Table 10.10: Government revenue, expenditure and borrowing—period averages

Table 10.11: Service delivery indicators post-independence—period averages

Table 10.12: Pre-boom, boom and post-boom growth rates in Africa and PNG

Table 10.13: Population and democracy disruptions for countries with similar growth rates and starting points to PNG

Table 10.14: PNG standard of living and service delivery indicators—international rankings