Oct 6 (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it has reached a staff-level agreement with Papua New Guinea on reviews of its funding facilities, potentially unlocking up to $189 million once approved by the fund’s executive board.
• IMF staff and Papua New Guinea reached a staff-level agreement on the final reviews of the ECF, EFF and RSF arrangements. If the IMF board approves it, the country would receive about $82 million right away and up to about $107 million in climate financing. Total IMF money paid out would then reach about $1.19 billion.
• The IMF expects real GDP growth to slow to 3.1% in 2026 from 6.2% in 2025, as LNG output levels off, El Nino hurts farming and mining, and the war in the Middle East pushes up import costs. Headline inflation is expected to rise to 4.8%.
• The government met all but one quantitative performance criterion and all indicative targets for end-June 2026. It missed its fiscal deficit target in the first half of the year but passed a supplementary budget in September and still aims to keep the 2026 deficit to 1.6 billion Papua New Guinea kina ($345.28 million).
($1 = 4.6339 kinas)
(Reporting by Natalia Bueno Rebolledo in Mexico City and Lucy Craymer in Wellington; Editing by Chris Reese and Sanjeev Miglani)
