Going by the title of the newspaper’s article ‘IMF Confirms PNG Doing Well’, the first impression one would get is that the content is about the performance of the macroeconomic indicators in inflation, unemployment, GDP and current account that PNG is reported to be doing well in. However, the article is on GoPNG’s economic reforms that we are carrying out as a condition to access budget funding from IMF. Why did we have to go to the IMF and being subjected to these conditions and such assessments? I explored this poser more in the link immediately following hereunder.
For the sake of commentary, lets assume that the article is about IMF and our GoPNG colluding to tell us that our economy is doing well in the four macroeconomic indicators as this has often been the tendencies for all incumbent GoPNG to defend their performance which often contradicts the bottom up realities on the ground.
I’d rather they tell us the blunt truth than sugar coating things and sedating us from the harsh truth. Truth is the knowledge of things as they are. Our truth is the one most of our citizens would have lived and experienced from the bottom up. Comparing the bottom up realities from the top down watering down of the harsh realities, the motives of the ‘good news’ bearers and ‘do-gooder’ financiers such as IMF and foreign expatriate economic advisors must be questioned. For example in the link below are some economic advises that our GoPNG is following that appear contradictory to the expected educated ways of managing the economy.
In this instance where our GoPNG and IMF appear to be saying that the economy is doing well, this top down rhetoric does not cascade and translate to tangible gains for the majority of citizens from a bottom up perspective. Two glaring examples are that of consumers shifting to alternate inferior goods and electricity energy crisis.
The microeconomic indicators in the increase in the demand for ‘alternate inferior’ goods contradicts IMF’s assessment of PNG economy ‘doing well’. This increase in demand for alternate ‘inferior’ goods is the better and a more realist microeconomics indicator of the state of our economy from the bottom up.
From the bottom up we also have energy consumption which should contradicts IMF’s assessment of PNG economy ‘doing well’. Energy consumption is the better and a more realist microeconomics indicator of the state of our economy from the bottom up.
Rather than sugar coating the state of our economy from the top down, it would not hurt to admit the truth then work toward mobilizing the power of the collective to fix things.