Since 2012, the data collected by the PNG 100 CEO Survey has revealed trends in business confidence among Papua New Guinea business leaders. So, how confident are businesses in 2025?

Business Advantage International and Westpac presented the results of the 2025 PNG 100 CEO Survey to a breakfast of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Hilton Hotel on 19 March 2025. Credit: BAI

Profit performance in 2024: the reality

The survey asked CEOs how profits had performed in 2024 compared to their expectations.

The responses suggest that businesses performed strongly in 2024, with 40 per cent saying profits beat expectations and an additional 30 per cent saying they met expectations.

This was a step up from last year’s survey, when only 36 per cent said profits beat expectations and 19 per cent said they met expectations.

Figure 1: Profits in 2024. Credit: BAI

Profit expectations for 2025

The survey asked how profits will perform in 2025, compared to 2024.

The overwhelming majority of CEOs were optimistic heading into 2025, with 65 per cent expecting their profits will exceed 2024, and a further 25 per cent expecting profits to match 2024.

This is a greater level of optimism than last year’s survey, when 55 per cent expected their profits to exceed the previous year and 31 per cent expected profits to match the previous year.

Figure 2: Profit expectations in 2025. Credit: BAI.

Investment intentions

The survey asked respondents for their capital expenditure plans for 2025.

CEOs were bullish, with 67 per cent planning greater capex in 2025 than they spent in 2024, and 22 per cent planning the same level of capex.

In last year’s survey, 65 per cent of CEOs were planning higher capex and 19 per cent the same level of capex compared to the previous year.

Figure 3: Proposed capex spending in 2025. Credit: BAI

Recruitment intentions

The survey asked respondents to indicate their recruitment intentions for 2025, compared to 2024.

While positive, the responses were less bullish than our previous year’s survey, with 56 per cent planning to increase staffing levels, compared to 63 per cent last year.

On the positive side, only two per cent of respondents to this year’s survey were planning to reduce staffing levels, compared to eight per cent in last year’s survey.

Figure 4: Proposed recruitment intentions in 2025. Credit: BAI.

Business impediments

Each year, we ask CEOs to rank the key impediments facing their business. As the chart below indicates, respondents rated foreign exchange availability as the top impediment, marking the third consecutive year – and eighth time in the last 10 years – that forex has ranked as the top impediment.

Notably, most impediments saw a reduced impact compared to the previous year’s survey. For example, the top impediments – forex (down from 4.64 to 4.24), security/law and order (down from 4.39 to 4.15) and unreliable utilities (down from 4.26 to 4.04) all had a softened impact in 2024.

Only three impediments became worse: lack of market research/intelligence, high real estate rental costs, and access to capital.

Figure 5: Business impediments in 2025. Credit: BAI.

The 2025 PNG 100 CEO Survey was conducted by Business Advantage International between November 2024 and January 2025. The survey included senior executives from a representative sample of PNG’s largest companies, across all sectors of the economy.

To read analysis of the survey by Westpac Senior Economist Justin Smirk, click here.

To download a copy of the survey results and analysis, along with the results of each survey since 2012, click here.