Economy grows despite cash shortages: O’Neill

The decline in global prices of Oil, Copper and Gold has caused a substantial decline in the amount of revenue for Papua New Guinea.

The decrease in commodity prices is not what the current government had anticipated over the years but Prime Minister Peter O’Neill reassures Papua New Guineans that the economy is still growing.

“The decline in revenue is not one we have anticipated but that does not mean that our economy is not growing. In fact our economy is expected to grow well over 10% this year. I think we need to see this in a positive manner. Papua New Guineans must realise that we were anticipating some out of normal growth but today we must live within the realities that we have.

“In some sense, for me, it is a timely for us to sit back and readjust our priorities in making sure that all our government departments and public service machinery live within the budget that we have stipulated. We are working closely with Treasury, IRC and Customs where on a weekly basis we collect all the revenues that our government and our people rightfully deserve through tax.”

With the increasing population by over 3%, Mr. O’Neill says the demand for services also increases.

“Every time a new child is born, it demands services; hospitals, schools, roads infrastructure and in turn places a huge demand on the economy and it is something that we have to continue to maintain for our people. It is important that we have to work together for our economy to grow and deliver to the expectations of our people.”

He added that Public accounts will be tightly controlled this year onwards to avoid over spending on unplanned areas.

“Despite the challenges we had last year, we were able to meet all our commitments such as free education, infrastructure, free health care and we will still continue to invest in them.

“We have to continue these works because 99% of these people who are working on our priority projects within the country are Papua New Guineans and we must continue to support them. Our challenge as a government is to maintain these commitments.”