Best Bitcoin Card for Papua New Guinea

The independent state of Papua New Guinea comprises the eastern part of the island of New Guinea, which lies in the South Pacific and is separated from the northern tip of Australia by the approximately 180 km wide Torres Road. The national territory also includes around 600 islands, including the Bismarck and Louisiade archipelagos, the Trobriand and D’Entrecasteaux islands and the islands of Bougainville and Buka, which belong to the Solomon Islands. The western part of New Guinea belongs to Indonesia as Irian Jaya Province. With an area of 462 840 km², Papua New Guinea is about the size of Sweden.

The island of New Guinea is crossed by mountain ranges in a west-east direction over a length of around 2,500 km. On the national territory of Papua New Guinea, after the Central Range, lies the Bismarck Range and in the east the Owen Stanley Range. The highest elevation in Papua New Guinea is Mount Wilhelm with 4 694 m. The mountains are crossed by wide highland plains. In the south and north the mountains drop steeply to marshy lowlands. In the south the alluvial plain of the river Fly is up to 450 km wide. Further rivers in the south of the mountains are the Kikori and the Purari. The capital Port Moresby is located on the south coast of the island.

The islands, which belong to the national territory of Papua New Guinea, are partly high volcanic islands, partly flat coral atolls, which project only few meters over the sea level.

Political System

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea is a parliamentary monarchy within the framework of the British Commonwealth of Nations with a constitution of 1975. Head of state is the British monarch Queen Elizabeth II (since February 1952), who is represented by a governor general (since February 2011 Michael Ogio). The head of government is the Prime Minister (since August 2011 Peter O’Neill), who is appointed by Parliament and, together with the Executive Council chaired by him, is responsible to it.

The legislative power lies with the Parliament, which consists of a chamber with 111 seats. The deputies are elected by the people for a five-year term. Right to vote from the age of 19.

Papua New Guinea is divided into 20 provinces, a capital district and a province with special status (Bougainville Autonomous Region).

Economy

Papua New Guinea is an agricultural country despite its valuable mineral resources (above all oil and gas as well as gold and copper). 85 % of the population is employed in agriculture, mostly in the form of a subsistence economy. Only the soils in the lowland areas and on some of the islands are suitable for agriculture. Coffee, cocoa, tea and rubber are cultivated in small farms and plantations. Taro, jams, bananas and sweet potatoes are mostly cultivated in subsistence farming. The export of precious woods plays an important role. Timber felling is now limited.

The industry concentrates on the processing of agricultural products (sugar, palm oil, fish processing) and the extracted raw materials (e.g. oil refineries). It contributes 39% to the gross domestic product (GDP). Mining is becoming increasingly important, and companies are often foreign owned. The service sector accounts for one third of GDP. Tourism plays only a minor role in the country’s economy.

Papua New Guinea mainly exports oil, gold, copper, coffee, palm oil and wood, while food, machinery, finished goods and chemicals are imported. The most important trading partners are Australia and Japan.

The infrastructure is poorly developed. The vast majority of the available roads (a total of around 20,000 km) are unpaved. The capital Port Moresby has an international airport. The currency is China.