The head of Papua New Guinea's Institute of National Affairs says the introduction of a new financial system should make the country's economy more effective and transparent.
CBD of Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
Paul Barker who is also on the board of Transparency International said it had taken the Papua New Guinea government a long time to roll out its new Integrated Financial Management System under the new Public Monies Management Act.
He said in the past there had been several different systems leading to problems for the goverment in assessing the overall financial status of the country.
"Because of slow reporting back under these different systems, and also we don't have really a very effective public accounts and public auditing system, the state of the public accounts are usually in a pretty poor state."
Paul Barker said the Papua New Guinea government was desperately short of funds and expenditure was running well ahead of revenues.
He said February's earthquake had also put extra pressure on government finances with the temporary shutdown of gas and mining operations, considerable damage to infrastructure and huge humanitarian aid needs.
