Budget 2022: Lighten the burden - aspirational or achievable

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is used to having its national Budgets prepared in an unconducive environment, whether they be earthquakes, enormous swings in major export commodities, and so on. Not much can be done to manage the scale of these challenges, and so the emphasis has been on dealing with their aftermath.

The 2022 National Budget is framed in the shadow of a shock that is different to the shocks described above because its scale of impact is addressable, and the consequences are manageable. While COVID-19 has significant economic and fiscal implications, at its heart, it is a health issue.

The Budget preparation was also impacted by a recent ransomware attack on the Department of Finance's Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) on 22 October. This attack affected the timing of the Budget and brought home the reality of another challenge associated with antiquated government systems trying to cope with modern realities.
Once again, the PNG Government continues to hold out ten Budget and Reform priorities against which it wants to be judged, again presumably with an acknowledgement that expectations need to be reset as to what can actually be achieved in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.