Papua new guinea Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in papua new guinea, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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General Overview

PNG government agencies, including the Law Reform Committee, Department of Justice and Attorney General, the National Trade Office, lead a stakeholder dialogue group on developing the legal framework required to govern and accelerate the rolling out of e-commerce products and services in PNG.

The PNG Digital ICT Cluster is the top association of ICT specialists and service providers in the country and has been part of a stakeholder dialogue group.  Key elements of this dialogue are internet costs, accessibility, and internet reliability, which remains a top priority for most stakeholders.  Although there is a Digital ICT cluster to address e-commerce, it is important to note that the PNG government has yet to develop a comprehensive e-commerce policy.

Key local in-country support partners include:

  • Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
  • Central Bank of Papua New Guinea’s Centre for Excellence Financial Inclusion (CEFI).
  • Commercial banks such as Bank of South Pacific, Kina Bank Limited, Westpac Bank, and ANZ Bank.
  • Financial Institutions such as MiBank.
  • Superannuation Funds: Nasfund is the largest private sector superannuation fund in PNG, and Nambawan Super is the largest overall super fund with most membership from the public sector.

The top e-commerce sites in PNG are Amazon.com, ebay.com.au and aliexpress.com.  It is important for businesses to check these e-commerce sites to see which site best suits products in terms of traffic volume, competition, and the type of e-commerce buyers that they attract.

For B2C online purchases particularly, mobile e-commerce now makes up a significant proportion of the PNG market and within the next 12 to 24 months is likely to surpass desktop usage.

Legal & Regulatory

The Central Bank of PNG, Bank of PNG is the primary regulator of online transactions involving finance and lending through licensed financial institutions and commercial banks.

Other modes of e-payments in PNG include Cell Moni (e-wallet) largely provided via the mobile communications network. Minimum requirements include a smart phone or SMS-enabled device with the registered SIM number and mobile services to transact.

PNG’s largest commercial bank, Bank South Pacific, utilizes an Internet Payment Gateway, a website where customers place their orders online and pay using PayPal, MasterCard, or a Visa debit card.

According to the PNG Digital ICT Cluster, the country requires specific legislation that will govern e-transactions online coming to and from the country’s PG domain to track and deter potential cyber security risks, including fraud.  As a result of consultations, the Digital Government Act 2022 and the Electronic Data Act were legislated in Parliament to give legal mandate to the Department of ICT to implement and support the digital sector’s initiatives including cyber security. Although there are now legislations and policies in place there is a general lack of cyber protection for e-transactions in the country which requires a whole government approach.

There are no reports of recent government policies that would have a negative impact on U.S. businesses or on general online business.  However, as noted above, new legislations and policies are in place but still require a whole government approach to be fully implemented.

Consumer Behavior

Consumers in PNG spend the most on food and non-alcoholic beverages, accounting for 60.7 percent of total spending in 2021.  Housing, Water and Electricity accounted for 8.5 percent of total household spending in 2021.  Other consumer spending in 2021 included transportation (2.1 percent), healthcare (5.2 percent), restaurants and hotels (4.9 percent) and education (2.6 percent).

PNG’s eCommerce market revenue was US$197 million in 2021.  Revenue is expected to show an annual growth (CAGR 2021-2025) of 22.8 percent, resulting in a market volume of US$447.8 million by 2025.  The eCommerce market’s largest segment is beauty, personal care with a market volume of US$63 million in 2021.

PNG’s financial services sector remains limited, however the total Financial Technology transaction value in PNG is forecasted to grow by 123.8 percent from 2021 to 2025.  The largest segment is the Digital payments with a volume of US$238.4 million in 2021.

Global grocery chains like Aldi, Walmart, and 7-Eleven are not represented in PNG.  

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