New Ireland passes a conservative budget that is less than last year's

 

The New Ireland Government passed its K178,545,622 budget for 2022 on Wednesday 15^th December. The conservative budget is a decrease from this year’s K238,768, 279 budget.

 

Chairperson assisting the Governor on Finance Misbil Nelson said the budget is being presented at a difficult time with big decrease in total revenue estimates at 25 percent which is K60.2 million.

 

“This drop in our Revenue Budget will affect our Expenditure Budget by K60.2 million but the NIP Government does not let difficult times stop its commitment to making life better for the People of New Ireland,” said Misbil Nelson.

 

From the K178,545,622, the social sector will receive K36.48 million, Economic Sector K3.20 million, Infrastructure K86.92 million, Administration K5.76 million, Finance and planning K580,000 and other development expenditure K550,000.

 

“That is a total of K133,493,788 or Seventy Five percent being spent in Development while Twenty Five percent or K45,051,834 will be expended on Recurrent Costs. That means in our budget we are spending 75% of our budget on Development, and 25% on Recurrent Costs.”

 

In the last four years a total of K176,223,000 has been expended on Development and Infrastructure Services alone, of which K95,784,325 or 54% have been spent in Namatanai District and K72,504,255 or 45% in Kavieng District.

 

“This reflects our Government’s commitment to our people in both districts and is very much in compliance with the spirit and the terms of the Lihir MoA.”

 

Of the K178.5 million, K98.7 million is supposed to come from the National Government. That is 55% of the total.

“ These are funds the National Government, by law, should provide to New Ireland.  But we know the National Government is unreliable, and we are therefore preparing for any shortfalls that may occur in what the National Government has promised us.”

 

Furthermore Nelson said, “The National Government through the 2022 PIP Budget have allocated K43 million but we have no trust in this budget as we have not received one toea from the K21 million allocated to New Ireland Province in 2021 Budget. That is why we have directed almost all of our Internal Revenue into Development Expenditure. Even if the National Government fails again to provide all the funding it has promised, our People will get the Infrastructure, Economic Development, and Social Programs that we have promised”

 

This is the 14^th consecutive year that the New Ireland Government continues to be the first province to submit its budget to the office of the Treasurer.

 

“New Ireland continues to show the way for the entire country. We continue implementation of programs from our own resources.  As we are in this together, we must learn to respect one another, understand one another and live in a harmony so that we all can make it happen.    Together we can to reap the fruits of the Tree of Development,” said Misbil Nelson.

  

NIPG Media Unit