The main priority for the upcoming Parliament meeting will be the passage of the 2022 budget.
Currently, the Government is putting the Budget together and it will be brought to Caucus and Cabinet for deliberation before it is tabled in Parliament.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare announced this in his address to the nation on covid-19 today - saying the Government will table the Budget in Parliament no later than 90 days after the commencement of the financial year.
“Our budget will reflect the situation on the ground, and this year 2022 will be a challenging year in our country’s short history,” Sogavare said.
The Prime Minister said implementing the Development Budget will also be a challenge since there is only about eight months to implement it.
The theme for this year’s budget strategy is “Building Our Resilience: Laying Strong Foundation for Growth”. The theme is built on the spirit of “building strong and better”, government’s economic ability to adapt and withstand the ongoing impacts of the COVID 19 Pandemic and damages caused to businesses by looters in December 2021.
Under a top down approach, the DCGA has revised its 2022 policy priorities to reflect the changing health environment currently experienced since the community transmission outbreak in late January 2022.
The government has revised its objectives to effectively control and manage transmission to protect the vulnerable citizens, and maintain the domestic economy and accelerate economic recovery in the short to medium term.
“The critical policy commitment of the government is to continue strengthened response to the COVID 19 outbreak, reconstruction of business buildings damaged in the recent unrest and ongoing efforts to keeping our domestic economy afloat,” Sogavare said.
The 2022 Budget Strategy Framework demonstrates DCGA’s ongoing efforts to respond to the enduring adverse impacts of the COVID Pandemic by streamlining government operations to support essential services through managing critical costs pressures, lay strong foundation for growth through focusing resources to targeted investments that will accelerate economic recovery in the short to medium term while at the same time strengthen macro-fiscal stability and discipline and build back SIG finances to a sustainable level.
The Government remains committed to prioritise the Productive and Resources sectors. These two sectors are drivers and enablers of economic growth. The government also plans to narrow down and focus on projects that have been progressed under the Government’s re-direction policy since 2021 and are expected to yield higher economic returns in the short to medium term.
Sogavare expressed his trust in the resilience and industriousness of our people saying “the journey will not be easy but we will rise above all and persevere. These are difficult times but I believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us”.
Source: GCU