State reducing spending: Vele

 By GYNNIE KERO
THE Government is cutting back on overseas travels for public servants and the buying new vehicles as it further reduces spending in light of the prevailing economic conditions.
Treasury Secretary Dairi Vele said all Government agencies and departments would be given the opportunity to implement their own cost-cutting.
Vele was explaining areas that needed to be cut back in the planned supplementary budget.
He stressed that there would not be any cuts to services and salaries.
“We will hold a series of discussions with the spenders and try to get everyone involved,” Vele said.
“We will give them the first opportunity to look at their own budgets – things that we don’t really need, those are the easy things to cut.
“We are in August now. If you haven’t started something in August, then really you are not going to start it before the end of the year. We will give everybody a chance to sit together and we will try and point out how much we should be cutting.
“But basically, if you don’t make K1.9 billion worth of income, then you should look at K1.9 billion worth of cuts.
“We haven’t made as much money as we would like to. So if people can think of it as your fortnightly pay, if you had a big pay cut, you have to manage your spending, you cannot spend more than you earn.
“In terms of services, those will remain untouched. Salaries, we will make sure that people are paid.
“We also have to make sure that international events (U20 Women’s Soccer and Apec 2018) have to happen. These are our international commitments. Government has never defaulted on any commitment. What is required is for all of us to adjust and spend.”