Prime Minister James Marape says the K590 million in cost-of-living relief, provided for is the biggest-ever.
Prime Minister James Marape alluded that the 2023 National Budget announced by Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey shows that the Pangu Pati Government lead is caring, responsible and responsive highlighting that the 2023 Budget is truly a people’s budget.
He said the Budget is tailored towards lifting the country, and is more people-focused than ever before.
The K590 million reliefs include:
• Tax cuts of K63 per fortnight for those earning more than K20, 000 per year for 2023.
This will be done by temporarily lifting the tax-free threshold to K20, 000 at a cost of K280 million;
• K150 million will be provided for reducing fuel prices. All excise taxes on fuels will be removed through to June 30th, 2023. This will keep petrol prices down by about 61t per litre, and diesel prices down by 23t per litre.
• K160 million is allocated for removing school fee project costs in 2023. This is a particularly-important measure to get assistance out to rural areas and families.
PM Marape said it was the first time in PNG’s history for a government to develop a household assistance scheme, to help address some of the cost-of-living pressures such as increased prices for fuel, cooking oil, rice and fertilizer for farmers.
