Minister of Finance and Treasury, Hon. Gordon Darcy Lilo, has presented his SBD$2.2 Billion dollar budget to Parliament.
Mr Lilo delivered the budget with the theme "Improving the quality of public expenditure to invest in better services for the people of the Solomon Islands and to lay the foundations for sustainable growth.""The overarching reform goals of this budget are to reduce public waste and increase efficiencies in public expenditure; ensure ministries are properly and adequately resourced to deliver services; build infrastructure; and lay the foundation for growth," said the Finance Minister.
Mr Lilo said that an issue that the government has put significant budgetary support to is the complex land tenure system. "To attract investors, we need to address the issue of customary and tribal land to clarify land ownership and provide secure, transferable use of land with clearly identified boundaries."
Mr Lilo said that this would create an "enabling environment" which would be able to maximize benefits and returns to resource owners.