Prime Minister James Marape has issued a blunt directive to the country’s economic leadership, ordering state agencies to pivot from merely spending public money to actively driving revenue generation through a robust non-resource sector.

Speaking at Melanesian House during the official rollout of the newly established Growth and Economic Reform National Coordinating Committee (GER-NCC), Prime Minister Marape warned senior bureaucrats that structural economic reforms must be accelerated to outpace Papua New Guinea's rapid demographic growth.

The Prime Minister established strict economic milestones for the country's financial leadership, emphasizing that non-resource growth must anchor the national trajectory:

• By 2030: Elevate the current K140 billion economy to K200 billion, supported by a K50 billion national budget.

• By 2040: Achieve a K300 billion economy.

• By 2050: Achieve a K500 billion economy.

"Everything else you hear today, if you forget, go away with these two numbers – K200 billion economy, K50 billion budget... minimum starting point," Prime Minister Marape stated.

While major resource extraction ventures dominate headlines, Treasury Department data confirms that long-term national wealth lies in the everyday non-resource economy, including agriculture, retail, manufacturing, and transport.

Treasury models reveal that lifting the nation's real non-resource growth rate by just 0.1 percent annually will inject K709 billion into the GDP by 2050. By comparison, the combined lifetime economic contribution of all seven planned mega-resource projects—including Papua LNG, Wafi-Golpu, and Pasca—is projected at K189 billion by the same year.

The Prime Minister emphasized that these targets are an urgent economic necessity, underscored by 2024 national census data showing that 59 percent of Papua New Guinea's population is under the age of 25.

"If these statistics don't ring an alarm bell in your head, you're running around as a leper in our country – numb and not feeling anything," the Prime Minister warned. "A child at 25 today will be a father of three or four just 10 years from today. He must be employed to look after his children. Time flies, and we cannot waste time."

Departments have been ordered to immediately fast-track land mobilization, upgrade infrastructure, and harmonize cross-agency policies to foster job creation for the incoming generation.

To cut through bureaucratic red tape without creating an entirely new government department, the GER-NCC will function as a streamlined, centralized coordination mechanism:

• Leadership: Chaired by Treasurer Hon. Ian Ling-Stuckey and modeled after the deadline-driven framework of the State's Financial Action Task Force.

• Funding: Supported by a K10 million annual budget to fund a dedicated Secretariat housed within the Department of Treasury.

• Composition: Comprises the chief executives of 22 State bodies, including the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG), the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC), and the departments of Finance, Agriculture, and National Planning.

• Private Sector Inclusion: The Business Council of PNG and the PNG Chamber of Commerce and Industry will participate as formal observers.

The committee will operate under rigid operational timelines to prevent stagnation. Full committee sessions will take place monthly, supplemented by weekly technical working group meetings.

Agency performance will be tracked via a single, transparent "Reform Matrix." Non-performance will be escalated directly up the chain of command, with mandatory progress updates delivered to the National Executive Council (NEC) every quarter.