Kudos for a people-oriented budget

AS a senior statesman and one of the founding fa­thers of the PNG Constitution, I commend the government for the 2013 Budget.
It was a momentous occasion  with the government de­monstrating its commitment to invest in the future in a smarter and cost ef­fective appropriation.
PNG has had resource booms before and en­joy­ed good economic times, but failed to deliver the goods and services.
What the government is trying to do now is to corr­ect our past failures.
I congratulate Prime Minister Peter O’Neill for the vision to empower the indigenous people in small-medium enterprise business activities.
This is a milestone achievement and will put
to rest 90% of the formal economy owned and controlled by foreigners.
We are blessed with a budget where the government supports and empo­wers the people to live
their dreams in their va­rious business endea­vours.
Two million of PNG’s potential workforce or 60% of the population
live in rural communities despite our vast natural endowments.
This includes more than 20,000 school-leavers each year, who return to their villages with dashed hopes for a better future.
The budget will allow most of our people to secure jobs and raise their living standards.
The prime minister and his ministers must be commended for coming out with a “state of the art” and people-oriented bud­get.

Sir Matiabe Yuwi
Port Moresby