Confusion Over Sinai’s Age Sparks Appointment of Vagi as Acting PNG Electoral Commissioner

 PNG Opposition MP James Nomane says the country is facing crisis after crisis because the national government has failed to take responsibility for key decisions affecting ordinary citizens. He said the worsening medicine shortages show a leadership unwilling to own its mistakes and too quick to blame past administrations instead of fixing urgent national problems.

 PNG Opposition MP James Nomane

Nomane contrasted this with the period between 2011 and 2019, when Peter O’Neill’s government pursued what he described as an infrastructure-driven development path. He said the then administration used the PNG LNG project to expand airports, roads, classrooms and hospitals, with the economy recording average GDP growth of 4.5 per cent between 2011 and 2014.

He argued that since 2019, Prime Minister James Marape has leaned heavily on praise from institutions such as the Asian Development Bank, IMF, World Bank and BPNG to justify claims of broad-based growth, fiscal tightening and diversification. “A closer look at their data does not support those claims,” he said.

Nomane stated that both the World Bank and IMF have warned that PNG’s economic outlook remains constrained. The World Bank projects 4.7 per cent growth in 2025 but links this almost entirely to the restart of mining operations. The IMF has cautioned that the economy is “billions of Kina smaller than it should be,” pointing to foreign exchange shortages, low private investment and structural hurdles.

He highlighted rising public debt, now above K65 billion, and noted that annual interest payments topping K3.5 billion are reducing space for development spending. Recommended fiscal restraint, revenue reform and expenditure control remain unfulfilled, he added.

Nomane also pointed to stalled major projects, limited foreign investment and the continued lack of progress on Papua LNG and Wafi-Golpu. He said the government’s promises on downstream processing, SME growth and reducing rice imports have not materialised, while inflation continues to squeeze households.

The MP said the only way forward is transparent leadership and data-driven policy. “We need the Prime Minister to stop playing the blame game and admit to his failures and take extreme ownership of the mess that his government has created,” he said.

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Confusion Over Sinai’s Age Sparks Appointment of Vagi as Acting PNG Electoral Commissioner