The United Nations Development Programme representative in Papua New Guinea has called for greater efforts to get the government budget executed properly.
The United Nations Development Programme's Papua New Guinea country officer, and the UN Resident Coordinator, Roy Trivedy. Photo: Kim Allen/UNDP
Roy Trivedy said provincial administrations and key government departments commonly complained about not getting their budgeted funds on time.
Mr Trivedy said typically only 40 to 60 percent of earmarked funds were dispensed.
"There is an issue of acquittals, but the big issue is the fact that the funds do not get released on time. By the time they receive the first tranche of money, they've already passed the first quarter of the year, into the second quarter. So by the time we receive those first quarter funds and acquit for them, we're almost talking about we're in the third quarter."
Roy Trivedy said the recently released national budget was one of the best he had seen during his time in PNG, but that unless it is executed properly it is just a set of figures.
"So I would like to see all the government departments making it a priority to get the budget execution working properly. This is not rocket science. Every government across the world faces this. If you have levels of disbursement between 40 and 60 percent, you can only achieve at best, 40 to 60 percent of the outcome."
