Prime Minster James Marape has reaffirmed his government’s focus on growing the country’s economy to over a hundred-billion-kina economy in the years to come after noting an additional K50 billion injected into Papua New Guinea’s economy. Prime Minister Marape said since coming into office on the 30th of May 2019, growing the economy remains the cornerstone of his vision for the country’s long-term prosperity and independence. “From my first speech as Prime Minister in 2019, I made it clear that the focus of my leadership would be to grow the economy so that we have more resources to sustain our people,” Prime Minister Marape said. “I spoke about our journey toward becoming the richest black Christian nation, which is in line with the ambitions first laid out by Prime Minister Somare for a happy, wealthy, wise, and top 50 nation by 2050. I chose a more aggressive approach to ensure every ministry, department, and public servant prioritizes economic growth.” The Prime Minister said the rationale was simple: a bigger economy provides the resources to fund education, healthcare, infrastructure, welfare, and national development. “When I took office, the economy stood at K79 billion. Today, six years on, we are at K130 billion — a growth of over K50 billion. This has happened despite many challenges,” he noted. “Our growth rate is now consistently above 4% — higher than many other economies. Independent observers such as the IMF, World Bank, and ADB have all forecast PNG’s growth at over 4% this year.” Looking ahead, Prime Minister Marape reaffirmed his ambitious growth targets: • K200 billion economy by 2030 • K300 billion economy by 2035 • K500 billion economy by 2045 The Prime Minister outlined that growth would come from across all sectors — forestry, fisheries, agriculture, mining, petroleum, and, critically, through local content, SMEs, and wider participation of Papua New Guineans in business. He said major projects such as Wafi-Golpu, Papua LNG, P’nyang, Pasca, Frieda, and others will underpin future expansion, alongside continued emphasis on agriculture and downstream processing.