What the supplementary budget should deal with
The Member for Moresby North-West, Sir Mekere Morauta, said today that the International Monetary Fund Article IV Summary Report was a timely wake-up call for the Government and that he hoped the Supplementary Budget to be brought down in Parliament this sitting would deal with the issues raised. He said the Supplementary Budget should be the start of a long journey to repair the Budget and public finances and lay the foundation for sustainable growth, especially in the non-mining sector. The IMF pointed out that the 2017 fiscal deficit would need to be reduced significantly, but that further reductions would need to occur in future years. It also said that the Government needed to stop borrowing and printing money, reduce liquidity in the system – which means reduce expenditure and that it needed to urgently address the foreign exchange shortages and allow the kina some measure of flexibility to determine its own value in terms of other currencies. Sir Mekere said people shou