by Serah Aupong – EM TV News, Port Moresby
The National Government has presented a supplementary budget of K14.8 billion, and a K14.2 billion 2016 budget during today’s budget announcement in Port Moresby.
The biggest cut in the supplementary budget is from the Administrative sector, which saw a cut of K756 million.
Other sector cuts in order of size in the supplementary budget are:
Economic and Infrastructure – K285.4 million
Law and Justice – K165 million
Social – K123.6 million
Provincial Expenditure – K46.4 million
The 2016 Budget of K14.2 billion is K600 million less than the supplementary budget.
In order to finance this budget the government is expecting revenue of K12.1 billion. A significant amount of this revenue is expected to come from taxes.
In terms of expenditure, the largest share of the budget, K3.67 billion, will be channeled through to provinces under the services improvement program. While the administrative sector took a large cut in the supplementary budget, at K2.5 billion it makes up the second largest expenditure in the 2016 budget.
The administrative budget includes K10 million for general elections, and K80 million for the APEC Authority of which K35 million will go towards security preparations for both the national general elections and the APEC summit. Also included in the administrative budget for 2016 is K50 million for drought and disaster.
The government is still keen to pursue its free social policies in health and education with budgets of K1.5 billion for health and K1.3 billion for the education sector.
Other key priority sectors of transport and law and order both were budgeted for K1.2 billion each.
Related Articles: Budget Debate, Revenue Drop Projected for 2016
https://youtube.com/watch?v=8-xfaXCcvTQ%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
