THE Government is being warned that if proper monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are not in place, the $309 million stimulus package will neither achieve nor fully satisfy its intended objective.
Whilst praising the government and its leadership for launching the Economic Stimulus Package, the country must not repeat the same old story of misusing public funds.
An observer who asked not to be named, but who is familiar with the country’s economy, warns the government to make it a priority to monitor the money.
“I doubt that fisheries, tourism, and agriculture sectors will work without responsible ministries to ensure the funds are utilised as intended,” the observer said.
It’s understood that these productive sectors fall under the second component of the Stimulus Package which is the ‘Immediate Recovery Measure 1’.
The observer further questioned that it is still unknown whether there’s an actual economic analysis backing this increasing demand for SOEs to buffer the impacts of economic recession and how effective will this be in mitigating the likely economic impacts.
It must also be noted that clear regulations are needed for dishing out funds to small-medium enterprises.
“If not, only a few will benefit from the $309 million package announced by the prime minister on Monday,” the observer added.
He argued that the stimulus package plan did not have a specific timeline in relation to the COVID-19 threat level.
The observer reiterated that the implementation framework and schedule or program must be in place.
“Until we have a detailed implementation program and budget, the chance of the million-dollar package sinking in someone’s pocket is highly likely,” the observer said.
However, according to the Stimulus Package Implementation committee, the $309 Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) is going to be handled with transparency, accountability, and most importantly in a corrupt-free manner.
The Prime Minister’s Chief of Star Robson Djokovic also explained that the government will establish an implementation framework with tough criteria in such a way that it will be easy to monitor.
By ANDREW FANASIA
