Comments

This article made me stop and think. I still have a question about one part. Thanks for sharing such useful insights.

I wish you all the best. It’s a beautiful country with so much potential, wish I could help.

Well written, Kiery.

I am glad to see women’s empowerment to water resources is a top priority. It just seems too slow for such important resources to be sidelined.

Did you end up getting a birth certificate? I have applied and still waiting for my partner's certificate.

The article focuses mainly on blended finance. What about impact investing? It has grown rapidly in recent years ("from billions to trillions"), allowing people and foundations to contribute to businesses and projects that aim to generate both financial returns and measurable social or economic benefits. The total market for impact investing has grown to US$1.6 trillion, a 16-fold increase in just seven years and seven times global foreign aid. Impact investment facilities offer solutions to many pressing global issues, such as education, climate change, access to finance and healthcare.

Seeking information on how to apply online for Australia and New Zealand farm work for the next recruitment in 2026.

A good piece looking at testing out the key premise of the famous Harris-Todaro two sector model versus the available data. You might want to also check out the report on the National Audit of the Informal Economy. I was involved in the exercise. It provided a comprehensive up to date analysis of the PNG's informal economy. The study was funded by the PNG Government with assistance from the EU and UNWOMEN. Unfortunately a lot of the recommendations in the report are still yet to be implemented. The following are some of the key findings which will be of interest on the subject of this blog. 1) How big is the informal economy? This can be looked at in a number of ways. Looking at the average turnover and the number of enterprises involved, it seems likely that the informal economy is currently worth around PNGK 12 billion per year, around 20% of Gross National Development Product (GNDP). However if the mining sector is taken out of the calculations it is closer to 30%. Then if the agricultural produce that is currently excluded from the cash economy is added, the informal economy is worth about 60% of non-resource GNDP. It is also possible to measure the size of the informal economy in terms of the number of workers. Based on the audit findings it seems that over 80% of working adults are employed in the informal economy. However the audit shows that even those who have wage employment in the formal sector are heavily involved in the informal economy after hours, so it likely that the informal economy provides around 90% of incomes to local households. 2) What are the component activities? It is notable that a large proportion of vendors sell betel nut, sometimes in combination with other goods. Betel nut presents a management challenge within PNG’s urban areas, arising from dental health as well as broader environmental health considerations. However, removal of this form of trade would obviously create great economic hardship. Many workers in the informal or formal economy have more than one source of income, and apart from trade there is involvement in backyard food production as well as letting out rooms. A surprising finding from the research to date is the extent of informal money lending carried out by informal economy workers, involving up to 23% of workers (in Port Moresby) as a main or secondary activity. This involves some lending to formal sector workers in between pay days. The interest rates are very high - commonly 50% per fortnight - but there are also huge risks that debts will not be repaid. Those in the informal economy work long hours, commonly more than 45 hours per week. 3) Who is involved? Over 20% of workers in the informal economy have previously worked in the formal economy. The movement from the formal into the informal economy seems to be largely a matter of choice, with the attraction being better potential earnings as well as more regular (daily) earnings. The phone survey indicates that many workers in the formal economy also work in the informal economy to earn additional income 4) What resources are used? Another surprising result is that a major part of informal economy activity takes place in residential areas: within the house or the backyard, on in the street. The exception is in East New Britain where local regulations restrict this activity, and where coincidentally recorded incomes are lowest. The economic activity that takes place within residential areas is important for economic survival and has implications for settlement planning as well as regulation The audit findings suggest that markets only account for around 10% of workers in the major urban areas, though they are more dominant in most other localities. Comments suggest that more vendors would like to work in markets, where they consider they could earn more, but many markets are already crowded beyond capacity. This is limiting their economic performance as well as the wellbeing of the workers. The cost of doing business seems to be increasing over time as transport and fuel costs rise and higher fees are charged for some workspaces. Access to wholesale goods is also becoming increasingly chaotic in the larger urban centres, with resulting instability as well as escalation in pricing. 5) What are the outcomes for households? Net profits appear to be in the region of PNGK 300-500 per week which is more than double the minimum wage in the formal sector. However, while the earnings from individual enterprises appear to have increased, the involvement of “unpaid helpers” means that these incomes are spread over a number of people. Men working in markets appear to earn more than women, but this does not apply to workers in residential areas. Check out the link for more information on the survey: https://inapng.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/National-Audit-of-the-Informal-Economy_Main-doc.pdf

I'm interested. When is the next recruitment??

Naomi, brilliant. Inspirational.

Always enjoy your writings!

You are right, Celsus.