Govt told to prioritise spending

Business

THE Bank of PNG Governor Loi Bakani (pictured) has urged the Government to control and prioritise its spending especially before and after the national election to maintain fiscal prudency and debt sustainability.
He also called on the Government’s income-generating agencies to improve their revenue collection efforts this year.
The bank released its quarterly economic bulletin for December 2016, yesterday.
He said while some export commodity prices had improved, they continued to be relatively low which affected government revenue and expenditure.
“Global economic activity improved in the first quarter of 2017, particularly in advanced economies with increased trading and production in some sectors, including manufacturing,” he said.
“Increased stability in the global financial markets supported the growth.
“The underlying economic story remains largely the same, with commodity prices rebounding from their early 2016 lows, there is some relief to commodity exporters.
“In the US, activity was strong in the manufacturing and service sectors.
“In the United Kingdom, growth remained robust, as government and consumer spending picked up strongly.
“Growth in Japan and the Euro area are mainly driven by exports.
“Growth has been mixed in the emerging markets and developing economies. In China, growth gained momentum as a result of fiscal policy expansion, while India is showing some slow down.”
Bakani said international prices of some of the export commodities improved during the March quarter of the year.
“Agricultural commodity prices increased by 1 per cent in the first quarter of the year.”