BY BEN BILUA
Gizo
WESTERN Province has come up with a lowest budget estimate in its history this year as COVID-19 continues to hit hard on the economy.
In an interview with Island Sun Gizo, Speaker of the province, Adrian S Gina said Western Province’s Budget Estimate for 2022/2023 is $18 million – a huge drop from 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 estimates.
He said the decline in the budget estimate is due to two reasons; one a drop in provincial revenue and two, a huge cut in national government’s allocation to provincial governments.
“We are hitting new-low but it’s not a surprise, we are expecting this due to the current situations.
“Our hope is for this budget to help provincial government arms to continue deliver needed services within the province,” Gina said.
He said the 2022/2023 Budget Estimates will be put before the assembly this week for debate.
