03-19-2013, 12:17 PM
The rag-tag country of PNG accounts for 80% of China's trade with Pacific countries. PNG is hot spot right now.
"Tuesday 19th March 2013
PNG-China trade 80 per cent of Pacific total
By MELANIE VARI
TRADE between China and Papua New Guinea accounted for 80 per cent or K3.57 billion ($US1.68 billion) of the Pacific’s total earnings last year of K4.47 billion ($US2.1 billion), says ANZ chief economist for greater China Dr Li-Gang Liu.
Dr Liu comes from the world’s second largest economy and first largest trading nation when compared to the United States and is here in PNG to promote the Chinese government’s goal to progressively deregulate and internationalise the country’s currency, the Renminbi, to encourage business opportunities for corporate organisations, treasuries, banks and individuals worldwide.
He was the guest speaker at the ANZ Papua New Guinea - Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted breakfast at the Royal Port Moresby Yacht Club yesterday and was welcomed by a large turnout of members of the chamber.
According to Dr Liu’s observations, PNG is the largest economy in the Pacific, followed by Fiji; however in terms of a per capita basis, Fiji outperforms PNG.
In terms of trade leadership, PNG dominates Pacific trade, but not so much in the area of agricultural exports – the export of nickel, gold take up a huge part of that domination and the LNG will come on board as a lucrative chunk of export in the not-too-distant future as China moves to cut down its coal consumption and high pollution rates.
In conjunction with the breakfast activities ANZ also announced its offshore Renminbi capability for its corporate and commercial customers in Papua New Guinea. This will provide them with the ability to trade directly in Renminbi (RMB) or Chinese Yuan (CNY) when doing business in China.
ANZ chief executive officer Pacific, Vishnu Mohan, said: “ANZ is the first bank in the Pacific to provide its customers with Renminbi capability, which makes this a significant milestone in our support of customers across the region. Today’s launch also recognises that with the internationalisation of the Renminbi we can further support our customers that are growing their businesses through trade with China.”
“Total trade between China and the Pacific is significant and it’s growing rapidly. Last year, it reached US$2.1 billion, which was eight times greater than in 2000, and 20 percent larger than in 2010,” Mr Mohan said.
ANZ’s RMB offering further enhances its reputation as a super regional bank."