Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says the government has no intention of cutting the District Services Improvement Program (DSIP) and Provincial SIP in the upcoming supplementary budget.
In a statement, the PM said the supplementary budget maintains focus on core service delivery.
Despite criticisms, PM O’Neill is confident with the supplementary budget, to be tabled in the upcoming session of Parliament commencing on 26th September, 2017.
“The 2017 budget plan was based on commodity prices for our exports together with revenue generation,” the Prime Minister said.
“We are still in a challenging global economic environment with a slow rebound in commodity prices, and this places pressure on expenditure.”
O’Neill said the supplementary budget is necessary to balance the budget due to adjustments in the revenue collection, and more importantly, to reprioritise expenditure to focus on the Government’s key development agenda.
The Prime Minister said the devolution of authority to provinces and districts continues to be a core priority for the National Government, hence the DSIPs and PSIPs are vital to achieving development objectives around the country.
“Our DSIP and PSIP policy has seen restoration and development of our district and provinces, and our Government is committed to these two programs,” assured O’Neill.
“In the supplementary budget, the government is not cutting DSIP and PSIP; that is certainly not the intention of the Government.”
O’Neill said DSIP and PSIP are an integral part of the government’s development agenda and have proven to deliver real change.
(Loop file pic)