, changes in world - wide trends on secured currency, and the costeffectiveness of production and handling. our banknotes began with paper substrate but since 1991 we have moved on to introducing polymer notes, the second country outside australia to do so. we find polymer banknotes more cost - efficient, more durable and last longer, especially in our humid png climatic conditions. the new five kina polymer banknote to be launched this afternoon is the last denomination to be converted and completes the series of polymer banknotes. advanced security features are incorporated in the latest series of our banknotes as protection against counterfeiting. we have also standardized the main theme running throughout all our banknotes. on the back of our banknotes, we retain our traditional forms of money ( for the 2, 5, 10 and 20 kina ), the grand chief sir michael somare appears on the k50 note depicting our road to nationhood and guardianship of our country. the progress in economic and technological development is reflected on the back of the k100 note. on the front of each of the banknotes, you will note that we now have the image of the national parliament. this family of notes using the “ parliament theme ” shows different aspects of the parliament house together with a smaller image of the national crest. these are symbols of nationhood. papua new guinea is predominantly a cash - based economy and will remain so for some time. the majority of our people will continue to use cash ( coins and banknotes ) as the main form of payment in settling their transactions, in conducting their business activities and meeting social obligations. we at the bank of papua new guinea will therefore ensure that our currency are of an acceptable standard, are durable, and longer lasting, given our tropical humid conditions and the frequent and rough handling of currency by the public. for this reason, the bank has introduced a clean bank note policy to maintain the standards and increase public awareness of the quality of our currency. with these few remarks, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to invite our minister, honourable patrick pruaitch to officially launch the new five and ten kina banknotes.

l wilson kamit : tackling extreme poverty in papua new guinea address by mr l wilson kamit, cbe, governor of the bank of papua new guinea, to the lowy institute for international policy conference on “ tackling extreme poverty in papua new guinea ”, sydney, 14 may 2009. * * * distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen may i firstly thank the organizers of this conference, namely the lowy institute for international policy, care australia and the australian national university for the invitation to address this conference on tackling extreme poverty in png. it is not very often that governors of central banks are asked to comment on social issues or microeconomic matters. we tend to look at the macroeconomic level. given the global financial crisis and its adverse effects that are being felt right across the globe, i am pleasantly surprised at the invitation to this conference. recently, i have been asked to address different audiences on this subject at home and abroad. i was asked to comment on the impact of the current global financial crisis on the png economy and its impact on poverty. i have some comments to make on the first part, which is the likely impact of the global financial crisis on png. i must however confess that there are others gathered here today who are better placed to comment on the second part of our discussions on the impact on poverty. i will therefore restrict myself to making some general remarks. ladies and gentlemen, much has been said and written about the causes of the current global financial crisis and its effects around the globe. i will therefore not dwell on them. the maxim that “ no nation is an island ” is never more so true than now, where all countries, developed and developing, if they have not been so far, will be affected in one way or another by this crisis. development through globalisation, international trade and global finance has meant that we, in png, will also be affected by activities and events taking place far away in the major financial centres and industrialized countries. as a small, open economy, png is a price taker for our exports and is vulnerable to the global economic and financial conditions. given this, the question for us, therefore, is in what ways is png likely to be affected by this financial crisis. we are, to an extent, fortunate in png in that our banking system is shielded from the immediate effects of the crisis. our banks and financial institutions are engaged in the traditional financial activities of raising funds from depositors and