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Showing posts with the label Fiscal Responsibility

PNG’S BUDGET DEFICIT BLOW-OUT OF K628 MILLION

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by PAUL FLANAGAN This is the third and final posting on PNG’s 2016 IMF Article IV report.  The two previous posts have focused on PNG’s growth rate being much lower than claimed by the O’Neill government and PNG’s weak external position. The focus of this blog is on fiscal and monetary policy. The IMF report estimates the 2016 budget deficit will be K628 million greater than estimated by the government (so reaching 4.4% of GDP), and this feeds into greater debt levels. Government debt at the end of 2016 is estimated to be K967.3 million greater than stated by the government (and this does not include build-ups in off-budget debt such as the K3 billion in borrowings for Oil Search shares). While commending the government for its actions in the 2016 Supplementary Budget and “prudent” 2017 budget, there are concerns about where expenditure cuts have been made, the lack of effort on raising revenues (in particular from the resource sector), and the need to improv

O'NEILL GOVERNMENT PASSED THE 2016 BUDGET WITH MADE UP OR FALSE FIGURES, INACCURATE AND MANIPULATED DATA AND STATISTICS

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by GOVERNMENT INSIDER In a meeting with some World Bank people and some former Ausaid Consultants to PNG, this is what they had to say about PNG parliamentarians and the current government's management of the economy. They say, 99% of our parliamentarians are economically and financial illiterate. For example; They do not have any idea about the UBS Loan or the LR Generator deal, or even the importance of the 2016 budget document, as such no one is capable of debating the nitty gritty ties of such enormous financial transactions and legislations provocatively.  They even don't care about the economic implications befalling from such decisions. Therefore PNG Parlaiment under the current regime lacks good governance. What a shame? The other thing, they said there is no prudential Management of the PNG economy by the Peter O'Neill government, they said the current government manipulated fundamental data and statistics on the real GDP, a sign shown by the 2015 budget outcom

PNG's economy is a Greek tragedy in the making

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Race to recovery: poorer and younger people will be the losers from a sustained budget crisis. by PAUL FLANAGAN The past year has been a year of poor public policy and misfortune for Papua New Guinea. The country ended the year in crisis management with cash shortages and budget cuts more severe than those in Greece's austerity package. Businesses are suffering from a lack of foreign exchange to pay for imports and sales are falling. Newspaper stories are increasingly of government cash shortages – funding not being paid to meet urgent medical programs such as drug resistant TB, teacher entitlements being deferred, superannuation contributions not being deposited, little being done to deal with the most severe drought since 1997. The international ratings agencies of Moody's and Standard and Poor'

MORAUTA RESPONDS TO PRIME MINISTER O'NIELL

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STATEMENT by Rt Hon Mekere Morauta, KCMG November 4 2015 The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea has once again singled me out for attack for expressing a view on current national issues. My assessment and analysis of the severe economic and financial difficulties facing the nation and the adjustments that need to be taken are entirely my own. My statements were made to promote public discussion and were published at my personal expense. Every citizen has a right to speak about national issues and challenges, and those rights should be respected by the Government.  The Prime Minister’s extraordinary attacks on me as an individual should be seen as part of a broader campaign of intimidation and attempts to shut down dissent, by force if necessary. Dissent is a sign of a healthy society. It is a sign of a robust democracy. The right to freedom of speech and the freedom to gather together publicly to express our views are precious public commodities. The Prime Minister claims t

THE NUMBERS DONT LIE PETER O'NIELL

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by JACK KUMAN Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is telling us that the economy and government finances are in good condition. But the official numbers from Treasury and the Bank of Papua New Guinea tell a different story. They tell us that Papua New Guinea is rushing towards an economic and financial disaster. The numbers do not lie, unlike the Prime Minister. Since he grabbed power in mid-2011, the economy and government finances have got worse and worse until today the Government is virtually bankrupt. Now the Prime Minister and his partners in crime have resorted to stealing from State-Owned Enterprises to try to prevent a complete financial crash. They have demanded hundreds of millions of kina, including from LNG landowners’ funds held in NPCP and reserve and operating cash from National Fisheries Authority and MVIL. This is in addition to the hundreds of millions of kina already drained from SOEs last year and earlier this year in fake “dividends”. O’Neill’s corru