OPPOSITION ANTICIPATING 2025 BUDGET

By Nigel MADO

Opposition announced last week that they are putting together a team from the shadow ministries of finance and planning who would be putting a very comprehensive response to the budget.

The Opposition Leader & Member for Kiriwina-Goodenough District, Douglas Tomuriesa told FM100 News that he has made a call to the Prime Minister James Marape to be fair and to give the Opposition an opportunity to view the Budget, prior to its presentation, so they can be able to make a well-informed response.

The Opposition Leader mentioned that the reasoning behind this is to know how much more will the government borrow. This is in terms of loans that will come to support the budget.

He asserted that this was going to be a determining factor in identifying if the country has been performing well. This is in terms of revenue generation adding that revenue coming into the country has been minimal.

“We all know this, that this year revenue was very, very little. Revenue coming into government coffers is very, very minimal,” the leader stated.

He stated that within the past three months there was new revenue to the country, a worrying sign of an unstable economy.

“We all know also that Porgera Mines was closed and former prime minister and leader of the PNC party highlighted the loss since Porgera Mine’s closure in the last five years. The country lost $25 billion.”

“They will be including in the budget what Porgera will make for the country. And if Porgera continues to close, then there’s no revenue coming in from Porgera.”