Reflecting a strong global economic rebound, Papua New Guinea (PNG) reversed its downward economic growth trajectory in 2021. The World Bank estimates that the PNG economy contracted by 3.5 percent in 2020 before returning to positive economic growth of 1 percent in 2021. Domestic agricultural...

The Enterprise Surveys (ES) focus on many aspects of the business environment. These factors can be accommodating or constraining for firms and play an important role in whether an economy's private sector will thrive or not. An accommodating business environment is one that encourages firms to...

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...

The Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) focuses on long-term growth, outlining the challenges Papua New Guinea (PNG) faces to achieve sufficient economic growth to expand the incomes of its rapidly growing population as well as what is required for PNG to make the transition to a higher, more...

The Special Focus for this issue is on long-term growth, emphasizing the challenges PNG is facing. The chapter identifies the underlying challenges of low and volatile growth in the country and aims at starting a public discussion to better understand the problems and, thus, contribute to...

"The rationale for public investment in rural roads is that households can better exploit agricultural and nonagricultural opportunities to use labor and capital more efficiently. But significant knowledge gaps remain as to how opportunities provided by roads actually filter back into household...

There is an emerging consensus in Papua New Guinea (PNG) -- both at the governmental level and among civil society more generally -- that human development outcomes are far less than satisfactory and that service provision in many parts of the country is collapsing despite the significant level...

Bhutan has registered rapid economic growth in the recent past. But the private sector's contribution to this growth has not been significant. Recognizing that the private sector can play an important role as an engine of growth, the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) mapped out strategies to...