Cost of living in Papua New Guinea – 2015

Family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 young children living in Port Moresby

> Accommodation - can be very expensive. My work pays for my accommodation but I believe the cost is around K4,500 a week.

> Public Transportation Fares (bus) - I have never caught the PMV buses (mainly for safety reasons) but the fares are between K1 and K10 I'm told depending on the distance.

> Food Prices - Some items are well priced, others are far more expensive than Australia. Quality overall is not bad. For the 4 of us we spend around K500 a week, plus we keep some money for eating out. I eat lunch at Boroko Food World most days and can get a sandwich and coffee for about K16 which is well priced. Duffys you would pay around K20 for a sandwich and another K10 for a coffee.

> Health Prices - Included in my package

> Education prices - My oldest daughter attends Ela Murray ELC 3 days a week, cost is approx K22,000 for the year.

> Energy Prices - I spend about K700 a month for electricity, quite high compared to Australia

> Common Bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone) - HiTRON TV service with most channels is K140 a month, mobile costs me around K50 a month, Internet is K80 for 1.9GB or K200 for 5GB with Digicel.

> Price for a good menu in a traditional restaurant - Around K50-K70 for a main, K70-K120 for a bottle of wine.

> Price for a coffee or a drink Between K4-K10

> Club Memberships - Aviat Club - K1605 single + K1145 for the family (1 Year). Yacht Club - K4500 for a family (1 Year). Gym - K500 a year.

Only my Hubby and me here in POM - Waigani Area

Accomodation - our weekly rent is at 5,500 exclusive GST

Public Transpo - Bus cost about 1 kina min up while Taxi would cost 10 kina up (please note that this is based on my staffs information)

Monthly budget for Food - 2,000 - 3,000 per month

Restaurant/Eating out Budget - 2,000 per month (only because we love eating out)

Health Insurance - Company expense

Energy price - we usually spends 1,000 kina per month since most of the appliances including water heater are electric based.

Common bills (Internet, television, telephone, mobile phone)  - we pay 190+ for Hitron (2 decoders) while mobile phone and internet usually cost us 700 per month

Restaurant - Price range is between 35 - 90 kina per ala carte while rice meals would start at 20 kina

Coffee/Drinks - Bon Cafe regular drinks eg. mocha starts at 7.00 while Figaro starts at 9.00 kina
Softdrinks eg. coke etc ranges from 4 - 5 kina depending on the store

Cinama Tickets - 25 for regular/30 for Premiun 2D while 30 for 3D regular and 45 for Premium 3D Cinema

Thank you for all this information aatuti and yushen16. It will be really helpful for other members.

Shaazia

Family of 3 - child is 20mos living in Port Moresby.

Accomodation - provided by the company
Transpo - provided by the company ( some Filipino expat have taxi on hire for K20 to K50)
Food - K500/wk including bub's milk.
Babysitter - K300/fn with free meals and paid holidays
Utilities - Electric K500/mo (K300 provided by the company), Hitron K230/mo (premium with Filipino package),
mobile credits K50/mo, internet K120/month ( 3gb of data)
Dining out - Buffet starts at K45 to K100, ala-carte starts at K20+ per small serving, set menu K25
Bub Check up - K95/visit to pedia

Hope this helps.

Whether something is expensive or not depends on your frame of reference i.e. what you are comparing it with (the Corner shop is invariably dearer than the supermarket) and whether it is like-for-like equivalent product.  The following are some observations that I have compiled over the past year for others to consider.  Prices are in A$ equivalent using rough exchange rate that was applicable at the time and in some instances Australian equivalent prices are included.  It's not in the format requested and apologies for that but it might be of interest.

13 March 15
Corner shop -  Arnotts original Tim Tam biscuits A$6.55

12 March 2015
Café eat in prices - home made pork pie $6.42, pot of tea $4.28, Vita C detox juice  $10.48, Chicken Club Sandwich $11.90

15 Feb 2015
Supermarket Take-away pie locally made $3.57 – frozen imported are considerably dearer.

Dec 2014
Supermarket
- Mainland Gouda Cheese 250gm A$7.81
- Creamed corn Edgell 125gm A$1.88

6 Sept 2014
Supermarket
- Black Swan Yoghurt in A$8.61 compared with $3.99 at Coles in Aust
- Button Mushrooms are A$ 28.94/kg compared to $19.99 at Coles in Aust
- Kiwifruit work out to A$1.16 each compared with 50 cents at Coles in Aust
- Tinned G/C Pineapple is $4.80 compared to $2.81 at Coles in Aust
However the onions, tomatoes and grapes are all the same price as Oz at the moment. Go figure.
- Tinned corn kernels Edgell 125gm are $2.66 each c/w $1.21 at Coles
- Little tins of baked beans - well you just can't get them.and if you want ham flavoured you can't even get those in the larger size.
- McWilliams Inherit Tawny Port $20.97 which is $4.99 per bottle at Dan Murphy's; or
- Oxford Landing Merlot $21.75 which is about $8 in Oz. (which you can buy in the US for under A$10 a bottle)

Upshot, general supermarket goods 2 to 3 times the price in Australia, wine 3 to 4 times the price.  However, for both you must consider that the range is invariably limited.

Just remember that almost every food item is IMPORTED therefore you have to factor in freight, either sea or air so don't expect Australian prices. Different stores cater for different markets and the ones that tend to attract Expats seem to charge more accordingly and the bigger supermarkets seem to be Malaysian owned. You can shop around though and with the new butchery opened up in Waigani the quality and prices are much improved.

hi,
I am trying to find out how much it costs to live a reasonable home in a nice area(with security included in the cost)?

Hi johnsanley,

Rent in Port Moresby is quite expensive. Other towns vary depending on location/quality and such. In Pom you would expect to pay around K20,000 - K30,000 a month for a quite nice 2-3 bedroom apartment in a complex with pool, car parking, security etc. You can however pay a lot less, or even more than that depending on your standard of living. Seeing you are in Perth I have listed the standard price Australian expats are paying for accommodation. Normally accommodation is included in a job package due to the high cost. Hope that helps.