The shortage of Foreign Exchange Currencies (FX) remains an issue for businesses in PNG. According to a few major business houses in the country, the shortage of FX is one of the main issues that is affecting their businesses. Recently, CPL Head of Pharmacy Mr. Pradee Panda said that after January 10 events when CPL lost four (4) of its supermarkets which they were able to rebuild three (3) that had an impact on their cashflows and also inventory. Mr. Panda stated that the shortage of FX is now still a challenge as it still has an impact on their imports. “The availability of FX is affecting our import of our products especially pharmaceutical products and even though we make our orders on time we still face backlogs on our orders,” he added. Just this year Brian Bell Chief Executive Officer Cameron Mackellar has stated that access to foreign currency is still an issue for them and everyone else seeking goods, products or services from overseas. Many of these major business houses in the country have also continuously raised concerns that one of the major areas that is restricting their growth is access to foreign currency when they need it. “The majority of our products that we source, and sell are from overseas." "We would like access to more foreign currency as there is a strong demand in PNG for those high use consumer products and services,” these business houses stated. The ANZ Bank in its Pacific FX Insight released in May 2024 stated that new foreign currency flows associated with major projects in Papua New Guinea are not expected to arrive until 2026. ANZ stated that this is due to delays in mining and petroleum projects Papua LNG and Wafi-Golpu. While the reopening of Porgera projects is set to inject foreign currency into the market, the mine will not hit full capacity by the end of 2024. The Insight also stated that ANZ expects Kina depreciation will continue into 2025 and reach a bottom sometime in 2026. According to research done by a researcher at PNG National Research Institute (PNGNRI) FX shortage remains a concern to businesses and individuals.