WB: K10b must reach villagers

By Yehiura Hriehwazi
THE World Bank team in Papua New Guinea yesterday described the 2012 budget as “impressive” but challenged the government to make sure the K10 billion money plan is felt at the village level.
And for it to reach the villagers and the rural community, the bank said the government should focus intensively in the year ahead on the quality of its expenditure.
World Bank country manager Laura Bailey and country economist Timothy Bulman were inside the budget lock-up on Tuesday along with representatives of accounting firms, media, diplomatic corps, academia and senior bureaucrats to have a first read of budget documents before its presentation to parliament.
Treasurer Don Polye and National Planning Minister Sam Basil and their departmental heads explained the budget and tax implications to the people who attended the budget lock-up and were presented with budget documents and proposed legislative amendments.
Bailey said: “It’s very impressive that the budget is a record one,” in reference to it passing the K10 billion mark for the first time since independence.
“Even more important in our view is that it’s a balanced budget that focuses on critical service delivery sectors, including education and health consistent with the nation’s long-term aspirations and development plans,” she said.
“It makes important commitments in allocating resources to mitigate the risks that the nation faces in areas ranging from covering the contingent liabilities on public sector superannuation at a time when external risks are very high, to budgeting more aggressively for maintenance of public infrastructure to protect against decay and disrepair.
“We are pleased to see the continuing disciplined approach to debt, the commitment to moving toward a multi-year expenditure framework, and the renewed attention to issues that constrain private sector growth.  
“Papua New Guinea’s economy has expanded strongly over the past decade, and the challenge is to share that wealth in ways that transform the structure of the economy and create jobs, and improve the quality of life for millions of Papua New Guineans,” Bailey said.  
“This budget includes important actions in this regard, including reducing the cost of living in the short term through tax reform and investing in the rural sectors through measures that will encourage small and medium scale enterprises to grow – but an even more important action will be for government in the year ahead to focus intensively on the quality of expenditures to ensure that the use of public monies reaches the people.  
“This will be challenging, but it will be crucial for the full value of that K10 billion to be felt at the village level.”
On why the budget documents described World Bank financial assistance as “frontloaded” in 2011, she said the reference was made in the section of the
budget paper that referred to grant assistance from development partners.