rapidly developing economies'
p. 135 · Read in the full issue
Business and
Development
New Guinea has one of the most rapidly developing economies'
According to Papua-New Guinea’s Economic Adviser, Mr.
A. W. McCasker, the territory’s rate of economic growth is about 12 per cent, a year—which places it among the most rapidly developing economies in the world. Furthermore the erritory’s comparative degree of dependence on Australian aid lias been declining; the Commonwealth grant fell from 64.9 per :ent. of total receipts in 1960-61, to 58.3 per cent, in 1966-67.
FR, McCASKER gave these L figures, and some more, when aking at the annual territory trict Commissioners’ conference in t Moresby in April. He admitted t it wasn’t possible to be very :ise about the economic develop it of the territory because suf :nt information about production income was not yet available for poses of comparison, loreover, such a large proportion territory income was in the form subsistence income, on which it almost impossible to place a sfactory value, so any totals de d for the territory must be re ied as suspect. khout 60 per cent, of the people e still almost entirely in the sub mce section, Mr. McCasker said, made these further points: > There is an extremely heavy endence on imports which pro : about 42 per cent, of supplies the monetary sector, and greatly ;ed exports (by $80.5 million in 5-66). > The public sector largely domi ;s the economy, particularly in tion to capital formation of which rovides more than half. > Industry and commerce are iparatively little developed. > The transport and communica systems are still rudimentary. > The Administration budget still mds on a very heavy contribution n Australia (58.3 per cent, of 1 expenditure in 1966-67).
Many other indicators of the lively early stage of the territory’s dopment will readily come to d,” he said.
“Nevertheless, despite these humble beginnings the rate of progress of the economy to date has been remarkably fast. For example, total indigenous employment increased by 20 per cent, to 92,000 between 1961-62 and 1964- 65.
“The value of buildings completed increased 2i times to $22 million.
Electricity generally increased by over one-half to 92 million kilowatt hours.
“There was a marked expansion of the urban areas, which had a population of 129,000 by mid-1966.
“Exports have been increasing at the high average annual rate of 11.4 per cent.”
Mr. McCasker said the future de velopment of the territory must be based primarily on its agricultural and forestry resources. But mineral development, which was “the great unknown” at the present time, might well prove to be of “enormous im portance in the long run”.
The problems
He said recent research suggested a figure for known crop land of about 3.3 million acres, which was more than enough to support a rapid rate of agricultural development.
There were also large areas, thought to amount to some 10 million acres, that could be used for animal production and there was an assessed forest potential of between 20 and 30 million acres.
Some of the most important prob lems to be faced were provision for investigations and surveys; arranging for purchases of land and timber rights in sufficient quantities and in
the right places; achieving large scale native land tenure conversion; planning, organising and establishing resettlement schemes to expand the area of commercial cropping; and the provision of roads and other facilities.
World Bank mission
In the same week that Mr.
McCasker was talking another mission from the World Bank was completing a tour of the territory.
Leader of the mission, Mr. R. J.
Goodman, who is deputy director of the Bank’s Asia department, said in Port Moresby that members of the mission had been “encouraged by the evidence of solid progress in the terri tory” since the first World Bank mission was there four years ago.
He said that although an economic development plan for the territory had yet to be drawn up, the main priorities were already clear. These were: Improved transport and communi cations; more electric power capacity; and fuller exploitation of the terri tory’s resources for primary produc tion, especially production for ex port.
Mr. Goodman said the mission had looked at all these matters, and in particular had endorsed the need for a comprehensive survey of transport, upon which a co-ordinated pro gramme for the development of the territory’s transport system could be based. Such a programme would be an essential part of the general de velopment plan for the next few years.
The mission had also suggested further studies of the Ramu hydro electric scheme to establish the most effective and economic way of de veloping the river’s potential.
Other members of the mission were: Dr. C. P. McMeekan, who covered primary production; Mr. E. Minnig, who covered electric power; Mr. H.
Van Helden, who covered transport; and Mr. Gunter Reif and Mr. Ernest Earners, both general economists.
The mission was accompanied throughout the tour by Mr. Gordon Low, of the Commonwealth Treasury, Canberra; and Mr. Garth Mansfield, of the Department of Territories, Canberra.