Rowan Callick, 4/6/09
Can billions of dollars of gas refloat Papua New Guinea? The country’s hopes since independence have focused on one huge mine or energy project after another, each getting progressively bigger. Each has been hailed by the country’s government as the answer to PNG’s grim list of problems, which persist through boom and bust cycles alike. Abel Simon, a researcher at the National Research Institute, says: “PNG is known as an island of gold floating in a sea of oil. However, the lifestyle of the people and their access to basic goods and services tell a different story.” In the past few years, thanks substantially to high commodity prices, there has been something of a boom, on paper at least. Economic growth reached 6.5 per cent in 2007 and 7 per cent last year, and despite the global downturn PNG is sustaining growth this year too. But living standards have kept sinking, regardless. PNG, with its rapidly growing population of 6.2 million, stands 149th of 177 countries in the UN human development index, well below its Pacific Island peers.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25727815-16953,00.html
Tags: Human Rights, Mining, PNG, Trade