The Capital Investment Budget has been reduced by just over a billion Kina to ensure the Government deficit level is reduced to 2.5 per cent.
To maintain this level a revised ceiling of K4 billion (K4, 013.3 million) has been allocated for the Capital Investment Budget to accommodate grants, loans, fixed commitments and a limited number of well performing ongoing projects.
This was revealed by Secretary of the Department of Planning & Monitoring, Hakaua Harry, during yesterday’s 2017 National Budget Press Lock Up.
The revised ceiling sees a reduction of K1 billion (K1, 082.6 million) for the 2016 appropriation level.
Reductions have been made to ongoing Government of PNG funded projects, unrealistic loan projections, and the zeroing of the K32 million LLGSIP’s to accommodate ‘outstanding Ward Councilors Allowance’ from 2011 – 2014 totaling K25.9 million.
Harry says the reduction were made on the following criteria.
- All new loan projects signed this year were all reduced to zero, justified by often the slow preparatory and mobilization process for project to commence.
- Taking into account 2017 as an election year, it is anticipated that implementation will be slower in most sectors.
- Given the fiscal constraints, cuts were brutal and being fairly spread across all sectors
- It is anticipated that a supplementary budget will be proposed after the 2017 elections where most of the direct Government funded programs will be restored to a reasonable level in order to continue the implementation to the end of 2017.
Harry however, reiterated that no reductions were made to Provincials Support Improvement Programs (PSIP), District Support Improvement Programs (DSIP’s), and Ward Support Improvement Programs (WSIP).