Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says there will be no new taxes in the 2017 Supplementary Budget being planned by PNG's re-elected government
The announcement was made yesterday at a function where Mr O'Neill spoke to representatives of the private sector and members of government.
He said while some critics suggested that there would be some new form of taxes, his government of the past five years had already shown that it had a record of not increasing any taxes.
The prime minister indicated the imminent delivery of a supplementary budget which he said would ease financing pressures while also ensure the on-going delivery of essential services.
PNG PM Peter O'Neill Photo: AFP / Peter Parks
He assured the business community that his government was aware of the concerns they had about foreign exchange shortage in PNG.
According to Mr O'Neill, the government was "working to ease these pressures in a timely manner".
There was some recognition of the steep deficit targets that the government is facing.
Mr O'Neill said the government would work with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to maintain the quality of government expenditure, manage debt levels and to maximise growth.