Treasury Minister, Patrick Pruaitch, says the country’s economy depends mainly on the commodity prices.
His statement follows the falling commodity prices in the global market.
“PNG’s economy is dependent on commodity prices, once prices are up you enjoy the benefit and once it goes down you suffer the consequences.
“The 2017 Supplementary budget is a reduced budget which heavily depends on the current trend inflow coming into our economy,” Pruaitch said.
He added that to navigate that, the government has to cut down on expenditures and also deferring some programs that are not necessary.
“A way forward is to cut down on expenditure by deferring some of the programs that is unnecessary and concentrate particularly on the essentials that enable PNG to continue as a country,” Pruaitch highlighted.
Therefore, the Government will only fund the essentials to run as a country until the commodity price picks-up again.
However, Pruaitch said like before, the government is trying to remain above and continue to provide services to the people especially in health and education.
