Scary Budget Says Opposition

Written by Pio Sioa
Wednesday, 04 June 2008
SCARED PMS : Members of the still nameless Opposition grouping of MPs (l-r) Vaai Papu, Lealailepule Rimoni, Palusalue Faapo II. The Minister of Finance, Niko Lee Hang, tabled on Friday a national budget that the opposition members find scary, because of a record deficit they believe will add rather than ease more financial burdens on taxpayers, at a time when the high cost of living continues to escalate. The 2008-2009 expense bill of around $684 million is expected to be funded by revenues and outside grants totaling around $580 million tala, that will leave a deficit of $104 million to be funded by soft term loans. “This deficit represents a 300% increase when compared to $30 million from the last budget, and that is a major concern because it’s us the people who will eventually end up paying for the money that Government will loan to make up for the budget shortfall,” opposition spokesman, MP Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, criticized. He was also concerned that this huge deficit is allowed at a time when revenues in some of the key areas like custom duties on vehicle imports have dropped significantly. “The switch to right hand drive is costing the country $2.1 million in lost revenues because of the drop in duties on these second hand cars we are bringing in and that will continue for quite some time,” the interim Chairman of the opposition MPs continued. “With all these second hand cars added to the existing fleet of left hand cars we have, it will obviously drive our fuel bill even higher at a time when oil prices are still climbing. “What is disappointing about that issue is that Government is prepared to lower the charges on right hand cars and not on food items that involves everyone?” The new budget is now under review by the Bills Committee who will report to Parliament after 14 days for the House to debate. “We’re just starting to read through the budget now but our group will be joining a seminar by the Chamber of Commerce where we will carry out a more detailed look at what we are getting ourselves into.” Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment

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