"Can our budget help PNG in its crisis?"

My concern, Jeff, is can our budget help Australia in our Albanese energy-wrecking, price-rising crisis?

Sorry, but tough medicine is required. Otherwise PNG will always have her hand out and fail to do what needs doing! Root out the corruption, incompetence and graft.
Alan B.

China is always going to be able to outbid us so we should be careful about sending good money after bad. But there are some areas that we may be able to provide support that won't cost much. Maybe help them feed themselves might be a start- control their population so they don't breed beyond their resources. They have land so they should be able to live well if they are expeditious. Maybe they can have some assistance to develop their industry so that they can buy a few luxuries. China will want to make them dependent rather than self sufficient for political reasons. We need to think about things that give them but China can't- it probably won't be successful- because it isn't easy to turn around a failing culture- PNG kicked Australia out in the 70's and now they want our help- and we can try- but we need to be realistic. Some PNG people are probably based in Australia because they wanted better than PNG could provide- so maybe these PNG Expats could be used as part of a strategy to help them help themselves.

>The toughest condition of the IMF's K3 billion loan to PNG is devaluation

This is truly shocking! It implies that the Kina's exchange rate is still controlled by the PNG government. If so, why haven't they floated it? And why are the IMF failing to insist they float it?

Devaluing it will only kick the can down the road while creating new problems of its own. And it means speculators will continue to be able to make billions at the PNG government's expense.

Devaluing but failing to float the Rouble was a large part of the bad advice which wrecked the Russian economy under Yeltsin. Even Australia's economy was (according to Paul Keating) heading for banana republic status until our dollar was floated. 'Tis long overdue for PNG to follow suit.

CM

Good idea. Giving money to what the great Donald Trump described as 'sh.thole countries' is like throwing money in a beggar's hat when you know full well that he is going to spend it on booze.

Thanks ttbn.