The high level of borrowing practiced by the Soqosoqo Duavata Ni Lewenivanua (SDL) government in 2005 and 2006 needs to be reduced urgently as the country's deficit budget would just grow based on those trends.
The Public Accounts Committee said action should be taken now for the government to reduce its dependency on borrowed money and strategize development programmes to generate revenue and also strengthen revenue collection measures.
Spokesperson for the Accounts Committee Taufa Vakatale said in 2006, for instance, the committee is gravely concerned that both overseas and domestic loans totaling $633,885,000 was taken by the then government to finance the gross deficit which was $285.7M.
She said this borrowing was way above the deficit amount.
The Public Accounts Committee raised concern on the continued reliance of the SDL led government on loans in 2005 and 2006 to meet its day to day operations.
It revealed that in spite of the excessive amount borrowed, Treasury Bills were also raised for the amount of $141,311,000 bringing the total loans raised in the year 2006 to $775,195,000.
However, the committee said 51% of the borrowed amount covered the budget deficit and 49% were simply excessive borrowings.
Reduce Borrowing Practice
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