Crime and violence slowing business growth, Robusta coffee production to be boosted, and women’s bank launched. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

Eight out of 10 businesses in Papua New Guinea suffer substantial losses and security costs as a result of high rates of crime and violence, slowing business expansion and hampering the country’s economic development, according to a World Bank report.

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The Coffee Industry Corporation will develop a research, development and resource centre to increase Robusta coffee production in lowlands areas in Madang. PM Peter O’Neill says Arabica coffee accounts for 95 per cent of beans produced in Papua New Guinea, while only 5 per cent is Robusta coffee.

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The Women’s Micro Bank’s Janet Sape. Credit: Malum Nalu.

The country’s first-ever women’s bank, the Women’s Micro Bank, has opened in Port Moresby. Founder and Director of the Women’s Micro Bank Janet Sape thanked local women’s groups and the national government for their support. Bank of Papua New Guinea assistant governor Ellison Pidik says the bank will assist in reaching the unbanked women population.

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Treasury has revised downwards its growth projections for the current fiscal year from 6.2 per cent to 5.4 per cent. Papua New Guinea’s economy is forecast to see the fastest growth in the greater Asian area next year. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, expanding energy exports will propel PNG’s growth rate to just under 15 per cent, the highest figure in the 35-nation area, which includes Australia and New Zealand.

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The national government’s  targets for the debt to GDP ratio, as set out in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will be broken for a second year running, according to  Mark Evans of the Pacific Institute of Public Policy. He predicts that by the end of this year, parliament will be asked to revise the current 30 per cent limit to 40 per cent.

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Oil Search recorded a better than expected 34 per cent jump in first half profit, boosted by the start-up of the PNG LNG project. Profit for the six months to June 30 rose to $US152.5 million. Sales increased by 34 per cent to $US510 million.

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Newcrest’s Sandeep Biswas

Newcrest Mining has shed almost a quarter of its workforce and warned there are more cuts to come after posting a $2.22 billion loss for the last financial year. The company posted a loss of $5.78 billion in the 2013 financial year. New managing director Sandeep Biswas said the result was unacceptable and vowed the company would keep trying to lower its costs to fit the new era of lower gold prices.

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CPL Group has seen a revenue fall of three per cent this year, from K195 million to K189 million. Group chairman, Mahesh Patel, says the fall was primarily due to the winding down of the Exxon project construction phase. He’s forecasting a 28 per cent gross profit fall to K17 million.

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Oro Province Governor, Garry Juffa

Illegal land grabbing has been a major problem for Papua New Guineans both in the urban and rural areas, Oro Governor Garry Juffa has told the Bagasin people in the Collingwood Bay area, on whose behalf he won a court action to reclaim their land.

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The West New Britain provincial government says only 26 of the province’s 256 businesses pay taxes.

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Launching of the MV Chebu, with ABG President, John Momis and Sir Henry Chow. Credit: New Dawn

A new ship to ply the New Guinea Islands has been handed over to the Bougainville Government. MV Chebu is part of the newly created Chebu Shipping Company, a joint venture between the Autonomous Bougainville Government and Hakau Investments Limited, a subsidiary of businesses owned by local businessman, Sir Henry Chow.

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The Solomon Islands government says the layoff of hundreds of workers at the Gold Ridge mine on Guadalcanal will have a big impact on local employment. Mine operator, St Barbara says  its 570 strong SI workforce will be reduced to 160. The mine has not been operating since the beginning of April, when flooding put it out of action.