Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with abundant natural resources, and agriculture provides a subsistence livelihood for 85% of the population. Unsurprisingly, the PNG economy is dominated by the agricultural, forestry and fishing sector, as well as the minerals and energy sectors.

Papua New Guinea Overview

Its real GDP growth per capita has averaged around 4% since 2000, and resultantly the economy has received increased international investor attention. This shift of focus to diversifying the economy has lent to an unprecedented building boom to maximise the opportunities presented by the country’s growing significance in the South eastern region.

The country’s main export partners are Australia (18.9%), Singapore (17.5%) and Japan (13.8%) and top commodities are natural gas, oil, gold, copper ore and palm oil.

Landscape and growth

Global State of the Market Report

In 2020, the Advisory Board Centre mapped professionals currently serving on Advisory Boards. This assessment identified low numbers of Advisory Boards in PNG.

Papua New Guinea’s Advisory Board Landscape

The assessment has identified low numbers of Advisory Board professionals in Papua New Guinea.

Minimal participation in the market may indicate:

  • That Advisory Board structures engaged in the country are informal in nature;
  • Advisory Boards are referred to as a different name, such as committees, councils or think tanks;
  • Traditional sourcing of advice is more customary for PNG’s current business environment; or
  • There is a language barrier stemming from the search for Advisory Board professionals being in English.

Future Growth Opportunities

As an emerging sector in Papua New Guinea, connection and collaboration with the global Advisor community will present strong future growth opportunities. Further, focusing on key market sectors – mining, agriculture, forestry and fishing  – as well as acknowledging start-up and emerging industries are essential. It will also be important for Advisory Board professionals in the market to be credentialed to best practice and ethics as this sector grows over time.

Key Statistics

Population 108.1m
GDP 376.8bn (USD)
GDP by sector
Agriculture22.1%
Industry42.9%
Services35%
Import 1.876bn (USD)
Export 8.522bn (USD)
Global ease of doing business rank 120th (moderately difficult)
Global ease of doing business score 71.3/100