Unity in independence and improving economy

Sam Vulum
If there's anything to be remembered about the September celebrations of Papua New Guinea's 30th independence anniversary, it was the people's demonstration of their patriotism towards their country-a feature never seen in previous events.

It came in the form of a wave of euphoria that swept across the nation as one. And it also came at a time when its economy was showing signs of improvement and the government in full control of its finances.

Millions nationwide stood tall and held their heads high, proclaiming to the world that all's well through the widespread flaunting of the national colours-red, yellow and gold.

Like in other main centres, Port Moresby, the capital, was decked out in national colours weeks before the big event on September 16.

Remarkably so, the private sector took the lead. Almost all rooftops and front yards of companies, both big and small, had flags fluttering gloriously all over town. Government offices, departments, schools, hospitals and others followed weeks later.

The media took up the frenzy, playing along with all things important like rekindling fond memories of the good old days and raising new hopes for a brighter new future, among other publicity stunts.

Journalist Robert Palme, who has covered many independence celebrations, was stunned to see hundreds of people turning up as early as 5am to witness the raising of the PNG flag at the historic Independence Hill, near Parliament House.

“I've never seen this too many people during my many years covering the event,” Palme recalled.

In Madang, the people were in a party mood donning clothes depicting the commemorative PNG colours and designs.

Cars on the streets also spotted mini PNG and Madang flags. Shops, business premises and offices were decorated with PNG coloured paraphernalia and also flew the national and Madang provincial flags.

Some shops like Papindo painted the 30th anniversary logo on its walls. Papindo, in fact was one of the first shops in Madang to put up the PNG and Madang flags and the 30th anniversary logo.

The patriotic celebrations were supported by the good news that the government's tight expenditure control had put the country back on the right track.

Chief Secretary Joshua Kalinoe said there had been a lot of leakages in the past and the government had identified nine key issues including improving budget stability, budget planning, securing a new payroll system, reducing spending in salaries, prioritising expenditure and public spending, and improving non-tax revenue areas and others.

Kalinoe said the government was on target to achieve its first project of stabilising the budget, adding that 2004 had seen a budget surplus of 1.4% of the country's GDP.

He said 70% of the success was due to world prices and 30% due to actual economic growth.
“We are on track to achieve a targeted budget deficit of 1% this year and 0.6% by next year,” he said.

Other highlights outlined:

• Working towards a manageable debt level.
• Embarking on new loans including concessional borrowing.
• Improved non-tax revenue collections
• Internal Revenue starting to make surplus every month and was over the target by K300 million.
• Budgeted K14 million for the retrenchment exercise for this year had been paid
• Government made savings of almost K7 million from the exercise.