Thomas Wangi

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Senior Research Fellow at National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea

Businesses, individuals and governments have faced difficulties obtaining foreign exchange (FX) in PNG over the last decade. Over this period, businesses have frequently listed this as the top constraint they are facing. What is the cause of this long-standing problem and what more needs to be done to finally eliminate foreign exchange rationing?

The accumulation of excess reserves in the banking system of PNG may have undesirable implications on the financial system, macroeconomic stability and monetary policy implementation. Hence, this paper examines the factors that induce commercial banks to hold unremunerated excess reserves. The paper employs an ARDL model to estimate the determinant...

The accumulation of excess reserves in the banking system of PNG may have undesired implications on the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission. Hence, this paper employs a structural VAR model to measure the flow-on effects of positive shocks to excess reserves and the lending rate on private sector loans, the exchange rate, the CPI and real...

This article focuses on the IMF's second policy reform, specifically the buildup of excess liquidity in the banking system of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It is important to note that excess liquidity is the amount of cash in the banks but not circulating in the economy. The IMF report states that the chronic problem of excess liquidity has undermined t...

This article focuses on the exchange rate restriction and foreign exchange shortage in PNG. IMF (2023) stated that the Kina is overvalued in real terms under the current foreign exchange rate regime. Particularly, the Kina exchange rate exceeds the price the open market is willing to pay. The overvaluation has led to foreign exchange shortage and c...

In developing countries, real estate agents and landlords often play an important role in supplying and presenting residential properties for sale and rent. However, the role of real estate agents and landlords in determining the sale or rent price of land and houses is not well understood. e objective of this study was to examine the factors that...

The Land Court division within the Magisterial Services is headed by the Deputy Chief Magistrate. • The Land Court existing records management system is fully decentralised, and is operating entirely in the district and provincial Land Court offices. • The records management system is in a dire state: archiving and storage of case files fail to mee...

One of the major tax policy measures in the 2017 Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Government Budget was the proposal to increase the taxable component of employer-provided housing bene t. e urry, however, of newspaper reports that followed the announcement suggests that public belief in the fairness of this proposal was mixed, at best. e objective o...

This paper makes use of data from the Papua New Guinea Election Results Database. It draws on an exercise in which we standardised the spelling of candidate names to allow for intertemporal analysis. Our central research questions included: whether the share of more experienced MPs in Papua New Guinea’s parliament has increased; whether MPs who hav...

Astudy into customary landowner companies by Sanida et al. (2015) revealed a major anomaly in the operations of the Companies Act 1997 which is administered by the Investment Promotion Authority. e anomaly is that the Companies Act allows for landowner companies to have proxy shareholders who are not customary landowners, and representing the lando...

The management of Land Court records in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is in a dire state. As a result, the proper operation of the Land Court has been compromised. Land Court o cials are navigating through the dark, unaware of even the most rudimentary information such as the scale of case backlogs. Archiving and storage of Land Court les is failing to me...

The issuance of more than one state lease for the same piece of land is common in Papua New Guinea (PNG). This often results in legal disputes and conflict of interest between all parties that are involved in the lease. In a lawsuit brought by Port Moresby Gun Club (PMGC) against the Minister for Lands and Physical Planning and Our Real Estate (ORE...

Most benefits from forests that are not traded on markets (non-market forest ecosystem services; NFEs), such as climate regulation and water and air purification, contribute to the welfare of Papua New Guinean residents. The drought and frost that affected approximately two million people in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 2015 are examples of environmen...

Housing assistance is mostly needed by low income households; however, least paid public servants in Papua New Guinea do not receive housing allowance. • Housing allowance received by public servants who qualify for it is not enough to pay for house rental. • To move the public service system forward and maintain a dependable workforce, all its pub...

Private property developers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) prefer to invest in state land. • As state land for development is almost exhausted, private property developers have switched their attention to customary land. • In order to supply customary land to formal land markets, landowners must register their land through the Voluntary Customary Land R...

PNG’s public universities face difficulties in retaining academic staff, many of whom join government departments, statutory authorities, public enterprises, or the private sector for better paid jobs. We compare university pay in PNG with public service, statutory authority, and state-owned enterprise pay. We include allowances in our comparison,...