Papua New Guinea: plugs, voltage, currency, time & travel facts

Plugs and voltage

Papua New Guinea uses Type I sockets. Mains supply is 240 V at 50 Hz.

At 240 V, devices made only for 100–127 V (many American and Japanese hair dryers, curling irons and some shavers) will be damaged without a step-down converter. Chargers labelled “100–240V” work fine with just a plug adapter.

Money

PGK Papua New Guinean Kina PGK

Average in 2025: 1 USD = 4.12 PGK (World Bank). No daily reference rate is published for this currency by the ECB; check a live rate before exchanging.

Price level 67 (US = 100, 2025)

Everyday household prices in Papua New Guinea are about 67% of US prices when converted at market exchange rates: dearer than the median country (50). All countries

Language

Tok Pisinofficial71%
Englishofficial50%
Hiri Motuofficial2%

Bars show the share of the population that speaks each language (CLDR estimates).

Time

Papua New Guinea spans 2 time offsets right now:

– UTC+10 Pacific / Port Moresby
– UTC+11 Pacific / Bougainville

The capital is on UTC+10 (Pacific/Port_Moresby).

Driving

Traffic in Papua New Guinea drives on the left, so the steering wheel is on the right. All left-driving countries

Public holidays in the next 12 months

11 national public holidays from 2 November 2026. Banks, offices and many shops close; regional holidays are not shown. Dates marked “estimated” follow a lunar calendar and can move by a day.