Polye: Expect balanced budget

By ISAAC NICHOLAS
THE 2012 Budget to be handed down next Tuesday will be a balanced one, Treasury and Finance Minister Don Polye said yesterday.
“This government is committed to improving transparency on how we collect money from taxpayers and then spend it to improve development outcomes,” he said.
Polye said he would present a responsible Budget.
“I will not go into the details now, but all can be assured that it will be a budget in line with the economic uncertainty created by world markets, the strong growth and inflationary pressures we face, and the urgent and critical development needs of our people.
“The 2012 Budget will be a balanced budget – and this is necessary given the inflationary pressures in our economy.”
Polye said the 2012 Budget would be framed on sharing the wealth and empowering the people. 
“It will focused on delivering the government’s commitments to increasing funding for key Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) enablers such as education, health, infrastructure, land and law and justice, and ensuring that all public monies are spent well.”
He said the 2012 Budget would cater for a number of key government policies, such as funding tuition free education, increased support for small and medium enterprises to participate and contribute to the growth and development of PNG economy, and maintenance of key transport infrastructure, such as Highlands
Highway and major sea ports. 
Polye said the government would initiate critical improvements in public finance management, including better integration of the recurrent and development budget, medium term planning, focusing on development priorities as outlined in the MTDP (2011-15), and reintroduce project cycle.