ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information about the resources base, structure of the economy, institutional settings, characteristics of the labour market, importance of foreign trade and the major macroeconomic policies. It describes the role of the public sector and also provides a financial sector overview. Papua New Guinea (PNG) faces enormous economic and social problems in its efforts to develop its physical and human resources. PNG is characterised by its poor infrastructure. PNG's ratio of gross investment to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been comparable to other lower middle-income countries over the years. Investment is dominated by the mining sector, most of which comes through foreign companies. Data on employment are very scarce as there is no comprehensive reliable series of wage employment data in PNG. PNG inherited a relatively large public sector from the colonial era which occupies a prominent position in the economy.
