O'neill: Papua New Guineans should take advantage of changes in Asia to grow economy

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'neill

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill says everyone should be proud of the K15 billion 2014 Budget and stay focused on what they are doing.

He said the Government was allocating funds on district development, infrastructure, roads, education, health, law and order and growing the economy through small to medium business, particularly in the agriculture sector. O’Neill said there was no new tax in the budget and for the first time, it had the recurrent budget and the development budget combined.

He said the Government could fund the districts, provinces and the local level governments through the development budget. The other 50% can be used for general expenditure.

O’Neill said if Papua New Guinea wanted to grow the economy, it should be prepared to take advantage of the changes in Asia because PNG had the resources.

He said the Government was working with investors.

By 2030, PNG’s economy would be well over K100 billion, he said. And for that, the country needs K170 billion in investment.

He said with the growing population, the demand for services would be high. The country had invested in infrastructure to meet the demand of the population and to grow the economy.

He however warned that the procurement process and the CSTB were a burden on service delivery.

PNG Today / The National