Govt welcomes hike in Aust aid
BY GORETHY KENNETH
DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister for Treasury, Charles Abel, has welcomed the increase in the Australian official development assistance budget for PNG.
“Our partnership with Australia and the Australian people is based on a long history of friendship and continues to grow stronger as we work together to advance our mutual development interests,” Mr Abel said in a statement yesterday.
The announcement on Tuesday night that Australia’s official development assistance budget for PNG would increase to A$607.5 million next year was a welcome confirmation of the strength of that relationship.
“Australia is our largest donor partner, making up about 67.7 per cent of total grants and 8.8 per cent of the overall budget in 2018.
“As its global aid budget declines, it is notable that Australia is increasing its funding commitments here in Papua New Guinea, and also more broadly across the Pacific region.
“The current increases are a welcome addition to the major announcements made at APEC at the end of last year, including the establishment of the A$2 billion regional infrastructure bank, and participation in the international coalition to provide electricity to at least 70 per cent of Papua New Guineans by 2030.”
Mr Abel said that Australia had also made a substantial investment in the submarine cable that would deliver faster, cheaper and more reliable communications, which would help boost economic and development benefits. He said these major commitments were consistent with the govern-ment’s policy that seeks to have 50 per cent of development support allocated to infrastructure and PNG would ask its development partners to continue to align with the Medium Term Development Plan priorities and the
Development Cooperation Policy 2018-2022, under the oversight of the Department of National Planning.
“Importantly, Australia’s develop-ment assistance also continues to provide valuable support in health, education, law and order, defence cooperation, and we were especially grateful for the tremendous support provided for APEC and earthquake response last year.
“As we welcome the generous support of our development partners, we are also working to reduce our reliance on grant funding by improving domestic revenue collection and disciplined financing and expenditure decisions,” he said.
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