By FRANK ASAELI
ECONOMIC growth next year is forecast to strengthen even further to 6.6% and once realised, 2007 and 2008 together will represent two strongest years of consecutive economic progress ever seen in the last 15 years.
Finance and Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch said at the budget breakfast yesterday at Holiday Inn, next year’s budget has been put together against a backdrop of strong domestic economic growth supported by ongoing favourable international conditions as shown by the commodity price boom that benefited agricultural produce.
He told business representatives that economic growth forecasts for this year had been revised upwards to a strong 6.2% since this year’s supplementary budget allocation.
Mr Pruaitch said the upward revision was largely due to intense competition and increased coverage across the country in the mobile phone market which was providing significant social and economic benefits.
“Economic growth was also very broadly based across all sectors of the economy and across virtually all parts of the country,” Mr Pruaitch said.
He said businesses were becoming more confident about the economic outlook and were investing more heavily.
“More of our people are finding work in the growing formal economy which translated into financial support for multiples of people for each additional new job created.”
Mr Pruaitch said with economic growth now well above population growth, we should start to see a gradual improvement in the average living standard of the people.
The 2008 Budget used the same prudent fiscal thinking that had been used in framing recent supplementary and annual budgets.
This involved windfall revenues associated with the commodity price boom being isolated from the recurrent budget and used in a one-off manner that will provide future benefits for both current and future generations.