By Meriba Tulo – EMTV News, Port Moresby
All financial commitments made by Government will be paid by the Department of Finance by this Friday.
This is the assurance from Treasurer, Charles Abel, when addressing the media this afternoon.
According to the Treasurer, the coming year will see Accounts open, with commitments from 2018 and previous years not to be entertained.
Mr. Abel called a media conference to announce the progress being made in preparation for the annual close of Government accounts.
With the government keen to tighten up revenue, as well as spending, a decision has been made that the close of accounts will be hard – meaning no commitments from this year, 2018, or previous years, will be rolled-over into 2019.
At the bureaucracy level, Chief Secretary to Government, Isaac Lupari spoke about work being done to ensure all financial commitments would be paid before December 14th, adding that payments from Finance would need to be banked by December 31st.
The two-week period between close of accounts and the end of the year will be to allow for payments to be made and presented to banks for a drawdown of funding.
According to Finance Secretary, Ken Ngangan, strict measures will be in place to ensure proper guidelines are adhered to.
The measures put in place, are aimed at ensuring that 2019 begins with adequate funding for government priority areas.
