Reports from Papua New Guinea say the World Bank will not provide any new funding until 2004 as up to 120 million US dollars from earlier arrangements have not been used.
The Post Courier reports the finance minister, Bart Philemon, as saying that the government will now try and fasttrack the release of 70 million dollars pledged by the World Bank for a road maintenance programme.
He says the World Bank has indicated that the roading fund and the unused 120 million given earlier are sufficient for PNG in 2003.
And Mr Philemon says a balance of payment support programme from the International Monetary Fund is not likely to be implemented until 2004.
This comes as the country's corrency, the kina, has plummeted to 23 US cents, causing the prices of basic goods to skyrocket and forcing some Papua New Guineas deeper into poverty.
