A woman fetches water from a stream in Papua New Guinea. The Asian Development Bank wants to prioritize water and other urban infrastructure and services in the Pacific Island country. Photo by: ADB / CC BY-NC-ND
Papua New Guinea’s economy is performing strongly owing to higher export commodity prices coupled with sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms. The influx of investments in mining operations and, recently, in liquefied natural gas production also contributed to the 2.9 percent average growth over the past five years.
Even so, growth has been beneficial only for a small and mostly urban population. Eighty percent of the poor resides in rural areas and participates in subsistence agriculture. Rural people are disadvantaged due to their isolation, limited economic opportunities and poor access to services. In terms of social development, the country ranks 157th out of 187 countries in the 2014 Human Development Index and will not be able to achieve any of the eight Millennium Development Goals.