PM confident
The National, Thursday November 7th, 2013
PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill is confident the 2014 Budget will be passed in Parliament without any hitches.
He brushed aside a threat yesterday by Opposition leader Belden Namah that the national budget to be handed down by Treasury Minister Don Polye on Nov 19, would be blocked.
Namah told reporters at a media conference yesterday he was confident of securing the numbers to block the Government from passing the 2014 Budget. He said he was in “deep talks with coalition partners in the government”.
But O’Neill said the Government would pass the budget without any problem as he had the support of MPs who were mature, educated and stable.
“He (Namah) is just a nuisance,” he said.
“Politics has matured and PNG does not need Namah and his plainly selfish and destructive style of politics.”
Polye recently confirmed that it would be a deficit budget just like the 2013 Budget.
He said it would aim to grow the economy and would be very principled.
“I don’t need to disclose any figures of the budget because it’s still in the making,” Polye said.
“First, it’s going to be a deficit budget. It will continue to be a fiscal budget, deficit budget for 2014, but with a very respectful fiscal limit, manageable debts.
“The second feature of the budget is that we will seek to continue to grow the economy by way of investments. It’s very important the economy grows.
“Thirdly, the budget will be principled on very sound macro-economic policies and macro-economic reforms.”
Polye said both development and recurrent budgets had been integrated.
“Unlike in the past when the development budget was done independently of the recurrent budget. Now I see the need for integration into one,” he said.
“The budget is not just a piece of paper that you put your figures on and you sell it to the people.
“A budget is a strategy. When you hand down a budget, you’ve got to think about it rationally: Does it grow your business, does it manage the debt level.”
Namah said the Opposition MPs would support the Independent Commission against Corruption Bill to be tabled by the Government.