PNG Government hands down K12.9 billion budget for 2017

Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch today handed down the Government's 12.9 billion Kina budget for 2017, which has a projected deficit of 1.8 billion Kina.

This is down by over one billion Kina from the 2016 revised budget.
While the Government has wound back on increased spending on the eve of elections, it maintains focus on key priority expenditures like Tuition Fee Free Education, Free Primary Health Care, Infrastructure Projects, Agriculture and Small to Medium Enterprises.
The 2017 national budget is tight with huge cuts across the board on expenditure for all sectors. These include big cuts to health, education, transport, infrastructure, and law and order.
The 2017 national budget is tight with huge cuts across the board on expenditure for all sectors.
These include big cuts to health, education, transport, infrastructure, and law and order.
Speaking at the press budget lock-up, Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch says the reduction in expenditure in 2017 is necessary to maintain overall debt at a sustainable level.

But he says, despite the cuts, the budget will continue to fund key priority expenditures in education, health, infrastructure, agriculture and small to medium enterprises.
There are significant increases though in the administrative sector area which cover the collection of taxes, preparations for the 2017 election and APEC.
There's also an increase in allocation to provinces to ensure goods and service delivery reaches people.

The budget also contains significant taxation measures that will raise government revenue by over 600 million Kina in 2017.
The Government's major expenditures in 2017 are for the APEC Summit and the national election. NBC/ONEPNG