Govt spending exceeds revenue: Maru

Minister for Planning and Implementation, Richard Maru, has confirmed that our current economy is too small and the Government is not able to generate sufficient internal revenue to adequately fund the needs of our people.

Maru says our population has quadrupled since Independence and continues to grow at an alarming rate of 3.1 percent per annum.

Speaking at the opening of the Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council (CIMC) forum today in Port Moresby, Maru said PNG will continue to struggle to meet the requirements of our growing population unless we grow the internal revenue significantly.

He states we need to start planning on reducing population growth to a more manageable and sustainable level in order to access basic government services.

“This calls for bolder and radical interventions and therefore, the MTDP III aims to trigger active and inclusive participation in the development process.”

Minister Maru reiterated that our over-reliance on non-renewable resources has been PNG’s biggest policy mistake since independence.

He said with the recent launch of the Government’s Medium Term Development Plans – which aspires for a paradigm shift – will try to solve some of the issues facing our country.

The issues facing our country now include:

  • Population boom;
  • Imbalance in exports versus imports;
  • Foreign exchange issues;
  • Increase in public debt; and
  • Spending versus revenue generation.

He went on and stressed that in order for the MTDP III to be implemented fully, it requires radical interventions and inclusive participation from all stakeholders.

Author: 
Freddy Mou