The Parliamentary Opposition has called on the government to table a supplementary budget in the next Parliament meeting to address fiscal discipline concerns.
Its leader James Nomane in a statement yesterday said the proposed budget will address help fund the 2027 National General Elections preparations for a free, fair and safe election outcomes.
He called on the government also to reflect the Connect PNG funds in the proposed budget too.
“The Government tells our people the economy is booming. Our people know better. When a mother in Erima pays more kina for the same rice, the same tinned fish, the same school fees, that is not prosperity.”
“That is growth on paper, poverty in the pocket. GDP is expanding for one reason: the combined arithmetic of inflation and devaluation.”
“It costs more to buy the same things, and the Government calls that success. It is a statistical illusion sold to a suffering nation,” said Mr. Nomane in a statement.
“The facts highlight the grim reality. Total public debt now exceeds K66 billion, and the IMF-flagged risk of debt distress grows with every new borrowing.”
“Off budget Connect PNG contracts running into the billions have been committed outside parliamentary appropriation, an assault on Parliament’s constitutional grip over the public purse. Papua New Guinea languishes on the FATF grey list while regulatory reform drifts without urgency or ownership.”
“The warranting function has been stripped from Treasury, severing expenditure control from fiscal expertise.”
The Final Budget Outcome, due by 31 March under the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2006, is 5 months late! The MYEFO due mid-year is also late, said Mr Nomane.
“And the Government trumpeted a Moody’s credit-rating improvement that the agency’s own publications do not substantiate table the rating notice in Parliament or withdraw the claim.”
“Tardiness, opacity, and falsehood are not clerical errors. They are disdain for a people enduring a cost-of-living crisis, economic uncertainty, and a kina whose devalued purchasing power shrinks every pay packet. Growth on paper, poverty in the pocket.”
The Opposition has proposed the remedies, publicly and repeatedly.
“Restore the warranting function to Treasury. Bring every Connect PNG contract on-budget and before the Public Accounts Committee.”
“Legislate a binding FATF remediation timetable with ministerial accountability. Publish the FBO and MYEFO on their statutory dates, without excuse.”
“Re-anchor debt within the Fiscal Responsibility Act ceilings through disciplined expenditure, not creative accounting.”
“Measure effectively so you can measure and live by Pareto’s principle and spend less on targeted investments that achieve scale through agriculture, non-mineral sector, and youth dividend gains.”