By Delly Waigeno – EM TV News, Port Moresby
The government’should seriously look at a Supplementary Budget early this year.
Former Attorney General, Kerenga Kua, said this on the FM100 Talk Back show today when discussing Papua New Guinea’s national debt.
Kua said that with the national debt level estimated at K20 billion, the government’s current 2016 budget plan is no longer feasible.
The Member for Sinasina-Yongomul, and former Attorney General, was on the famous talkback show with host Culligan Tanda this morning.
He estimated PNG’s national debt level to be about K20 billion. He said the government’should now be talking about a Supplementary Budget.
“Perhaps we should now be talking about a supplementary budget in March, to bring things into parity; clarity and to make it feasible for us to implement.”
Kua said the 2016 budget was estimated on previous oil prices, but the figures are no longer practical because of the significant drop in those prices.
“I never believe in supplementary budget at the end of the financial year just to fix the books. The real purpose of having a supplementary budget is you have to create discipline. It’s to design your expenditure so you’ve got to do it proactively ahead of time,” Kua stated.
He said if the government’s budget estimates are way off, because of the changes in the commodity prices, then the government must think about re-doing the budget immediately.
This is vital to bringing estimated expenditure in line with the reduced level of revenue. Kua said it also provides bureaucrats with a roadmap to follow in their revenue collection and in their expenditure management.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NSL4EMWhEn8%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
