Papua New Guinea's foreign exchange reserves continue to soar.
The governor of the Bank of Papua New Guinea says they have reached 1.5 billion US dollars which is five times more than held four years ago.
The newspaper, The Post Courier, reports that Wilson Kamit told a meeting in Port Moresby the years between 1989 and 1999 were a lost decade due to the Bougainville crisis.
Mr Kamit said the economy was mismanaged and this almost resulted in a default on the country's foreign currency liabilities in 1994.
But he says the new government elected in 1999 undertook reforms to stabilise the economy.
