Papua New Guinea's opposition has criticised the government's 2016 budget as nothing more than properly planned deception.
The treasurer, Patrick Pruaitch, yesterday announced a 12 percent drop in revenue and plans to cut about 470 million US dollars of government expenditure.
The prime minister, Peter O'Neill, has praised it as a carefully formulated budget that will confront a difficult economic climate while continuing to allow the economy to grow.
Papua New Guinea Opposition Leader, Don Polye Photo: Supplied
But the opposition leader, Don Polye, says the budget's measures are too late, useless and only ratify reckless spending by the government in past few years.
Mr Polye says he raised red flags about falling commodity prices last year which fell on deaf ears as the government continued to spend on infrastructure projects in Port Moresby.
He says this budget continues infrastructure-oriented spending on a few preferred contractors, while people's socio-economic development continues to deteriorate.
