PM gives Treasury reports his vote

By HELEN TARAWA
PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill told Parliament yesterday that the Government, through the Treasury Department, has done well in presenting its reports on a timely basis.
O’Neill was responding to Shadow Treasurer and Kavieng MP Ian Ling-Stuckey’s questions on the late submission of the reports, including the 2019 Budget strategy and the Mid-Year Economic Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO).
“Our Treasurer is doing his best to make sure that MYEFO and all the other reports are being put to Treasury by legislation to be tabled in Parliament,” O’Neill said.
“Three weeks late is better than not even lodging it in this Parliament.
“I haven’t seen any government during my term where we were able to launch these reports. Our Treasurer is doing his best to ensure reports are put to Treasury by legislation.
“I do not recall a budget strategy paper tabled on the floor of Parliament. These are new efforts that the Treasury is doing so that there is some level of accountability and transparency in our government, conducting and managing its finances.
“Our strategy is quite simple – it’s trying to increase revenue for the Government to stabilise expenditure where it is aligned to priority areas where it is going to give maximum benefits, particularly in health, education and infrastructure and prioritise (them) in the restructuring of debts. Our most expensive debt is domestic debt as part of budget financing. Governments have always been under pressure because the revenue is not sufficient to meet the repayments.”
Meanwhile, O’Neill told Parliament that the Treasurer was repressing the country in discussions with many of the financial institution investors starting in Singapore and heading to New York and London about the prospects of issuing government bonds to realign foreign debt. “He is doing his bit for our country, and that is why he is not present, so let’s support our Treasurer in the work that he is doing. I know that he is testing the market,” O’Neill said.
“It does not mean that the Government will to go ahead or not with the bond issue. It very much depends on the pricing.
“If the pricing offered is too expensive, certainly the Government will not go down that path. It’s better to test the waters and our Treasurer is doing that.”