Oppo: 2009 budget of lost opportunities
Wed Nov 26, 2008 12:00pm
The Opposition has described the 2009 national budget as a budget of
lost opportunities as it expressed concern with the development trend
in the last six years.
The Opposition's Finance spokesman Bart Philemon told Parliament that
money was not a problem but how successive governments weren't able to
manage these funds for development purposes.
Mr Philemon focused his argument on the negative social and
development indicators that Papua New Guinea continues to attract from
international aid agencies, questioning how much longer it will last.
He also questioned why some K4b has been parked in trust accounts
when it could have been released for development purposes.
"Have we got value of the Kina that we have spent so far? Seriously,
if we had not been getting the value of the Kina spent so far then
what is the problem?," Mr Philemon asked.
In general, Mr Philemon is quite pleased with the budget, in that for
the first time it is lower with the largest expenditure sliced
directly towards the development budget.
He however is concerned capacity building still posses a problem in
the country in achieving its goals and objectives.
What he'd rather see is the right sizing of the public service
missionary and serious commitment by Ministers to drive PNG's
development agenda forward.
Parliament continue budget debate
Debate into the country's 2009 national budget continues today.
Our parliamentary reporters said there were no clear reasons why the
Government abandoned the passage of the budget yesterday afternoon.
Insiders however said the Government decided to delay to get through
crucial and urgent amendments to the Liquefied Natural Gas Act.
Those amendments allow the Independent Public Business Corporation to
take over as the State's nominee in LNG projects, sidelining Petromin
PNG Holding as a minor player.
Parliament resumes this morning. |
