ESP budget done via new system

Treasurer Charles Abel yesterday approved East Sepik’s first integrated financial management system -based budget yesterday.
Governor Allan Bird said this marked a significant milestone in his government’s effort to improve transparency, accountability and good government.
“The integrated financial management system gives us a live view into financial transactions that we have previously not had,” he said.
“We thank Department of Finance for the partnership.
“The budget of K238,900,800 consists of K141,391,800 in direct grants, K76,470,000 in DSIP PSIP and LLGSIP grants and K21,039,800 in internal revenue.
“The most-significant change in revenue is the improvement in GST collections from K2.65 million in 2017 to K17.05 million in 2019.
“In other words, an increase of 640 per cent.
“We expect further improvement in 2020.
“Hopefully, we can break K100 million by 2026/27.
“It’s a remarkable achievement by any standard, and we are grateful to our revenue team for their valuable effort.
“We thank Internal Revenue Commission for this partnership.”
Bird said the 2019 budget focused on education, health, law and order, infrastructure and growing the provincial economy.