Low cash flow, Teachers Leave fares cut by 30 %

The money available for teachers leave fares at the end of this year has been slashed by 30 percent.

That’s because of the low amounts of revenue flowing into the government accounts, according to a press statement released by the Teaching Services Commission of Papua New Guinea.

Chairman Baran Sori  revealed that the 2015 Teachers’ leave fares disbursement will be affected by 30%.

Mr Sori said that his office had been advised by the Treasury Department that the reduction in the allocation for the teachers’ leave fares this year was unavoidable because of the low revenue inflows being experienced by the Government.

The department attributed the low revenue inflows to the continued downturn in the commodity prices on the world market. As a result, only 70% of the total leave fares due to teachers for this year had been remitted to the provinces.

The job of deciding who should be paid their leave fares this year and who should miss out and await funds to become available or whether to pay all teachers’ 70% of their leave fare entitlement and 30% when funds become available has essentially been passed on to the provincial authorities, he said.

The department advised that the balance of 30%would be remitted when national revenue picks up and funds become available. When this will be “is not known’’.

The Teaching Services Commission, in extending the advice from the Treasury Department to its members, called on teachers to be understanding and appreciative of “the difficult times the nation is going through and to cooperate with the authorities to ensure a smooth management and disbursement of leave fares this year’’.