Govt needs local idea to draft budget

AN UNDERSTANDING of the situation on the ground is needed when designing the country’s budget for service delivery, Treasury Department secretary Dairi Vele says.
He said this during a media workshop on budget and finance reporting attended by members of the media fraternity in Port Moresby for the upcoming November Budget lockup.
Vele said the challenge for Treasury over the last 15 years when designing the budget was understanding exactly what the issues were in the provinces.
“When we are designing the budget, Telefomin for example, the people at Waigani may know a little about Telefomin, but they don’t really understand what the issues are,” he said.
“The people in the districts and provinces are the ones who actually know and understand their own problems; therefore getting them involved in the solution is helpful will go much further in solving their problems.