4,000 ghost names on PNG Government Payroll

Its been revealed that some 4,000 people are getting paid outside of the normal government public service payroll.

Public Service Minister, Elias Kapavore, says this is part of the reason of a budget blow out in the government payroll system.

Minister Kapavore told NBC News, that the Department of Personnel Management, will be working on correcting the data on personnel emoluments in the new year.

A data cleansing exercise was conducted in September 2017 in the National Planning and Treasury departments, to ensure public servants' records and data is updated.

"This will be one of my priorities, to make sure that we resolve this and get the correct numbers and ensure the correct pay is paid to the right number of public servants in the country."

NBC News - Rose Amos