A message from Loi M Bakani, Governor, Bank of Papua New Guinea

The Bank of Papua New Guinea was established on the 1st of November 1, 1973, shortly before self-government. Steps were taken to change the status of the central monetary authority from being a branch of the Reserve Bank of Australia to a central bank for Papua New Guinea.

Bank of Papua New Guinea has a complete range of central banking powers to enable it to carry out its international duties and monetary functions within Papua New Guinea. The role of Bank of PNG is to ensure that monetary policy is directed to the greatest advantage of the people of Papua New Guinea and secondly, to promote monetary stability and a sound and efficient financial system.

We will be witnessing the launching of a number of initiatives to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Bank of Papua New Guinea on November 1, 2013 and I am honoured to be celebrating these significant milestones.

The new commemorative K100 and K2 banknotes are extremely important as they signify the day when PNG was given the mandate to be the Bank of Papua New Guinea.

Bank of Papua New Guinea has also rolled out an electronic inter-bank funds transfer system in the country. The implementation of electronic inter-bank funds transfer and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) is a major step forward for PNG and will bring many advantages to all sectors of the economy.

The system allows all the commercial banks including BPNG to exchange funds electronically in real time during the business day. The RTGS allows banks and their customers to settle payments immediately and to know they have received value, rather than having to wait until cheques are cleared.