PNG’S 2016 BUDGET FAILURE – ANOTHER 2016 SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET REQUIRED
by PAUL FLANAGAN Executive Summary The 2016 Budget appears to have failed in its constitutional requirements to appropriate sufficient funding for the activities of government This includes servicing debt (amortization). The Opposition is correct to highlight the absurd differences between the 2016 and 2017 budgetary appropriations But the error appears to be in the 2016 budget One that was rushed through without the chance for adequate democratic scrutiny by the Opposition Holders of Government Bills and Bonds may now have to pay the price – as they did in the Kokopo Loans Affair And possibly the public more broadly. A Supplementary Budget should have been passed at the start of this week to correct the possible constitutional error that had already been pointed out to government by a local PNG analyst (my hat off to her – PNG needs more local analysis and women leaders such as this). In 2016, after allowing for the Supplementary Budget, only 56.7% of required expen