Bougainville House of Representatives passes K844million budget
The Bougainville House of Representatives has passed the 2026 ABG Budget, a K844,090,000 financial plan aimed at strengthening Bougainville’s institutional readiness, economic transformation, and service delivery as Bougainville progresses readiness towards political independence.
The Budget was tabled by the ABG Minister for Treasury and Finance, Hon. Albert Punghau in parliament this week, and was passed unanimously by the House yesterday in its final sitting for the year.
Minister Punghau outlined that the 2026 Budget comprises K520.36 million in National Government grants, K46.74 million in internal revenue, and K276.9 million in re-appropriated development funds.
Of the total K844million budget, the recurrent component totals to K240.98million representing 28.55 percent, while the development component totals K603.11million or 71.45 percent.
“This structure protects core recurrent services, yet it places the main delivery burden on the development program, so results in 2026 will be judged by completed projects and visible service improvements rather than approvals on paper,” Minister Punghau said.
Minister Punghau explained that the Budget retains the 2024 structure, which separates funding streams under the two Organic Laws - the Organic Law on Peace Building in Bougainville 2002 and the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Governments 1995.
“This clarifies which funds sit under ABG control and which funds sit under national administration, and it sets out the conditions, approval processes, and reporting and acquittal requirements for each stream,” he said.
“This strengthens compliance, improves transparency, reduces fiscal risk and supports clear debate in this Honorable House.”
Minister Punghau said the 2026 ABG Budget is set on three fiscal priorities;
- To protect frontline services and core functions; including health and education and police services;
- To deliver constituency-led development through equal K1million allocations under Constituency Independence-Readiness Program (CIRP) Guideline endorsed by BEC with strict controls and verified outputs; and
- To strengthen fiscal self-reliance by expanding internal revenue, tightening expenditure control and investing in infrastructure and other economic enablers to reduce reliance on delayed grant releases
Recurrent Budget 2026
The National Government recurrent grants component for 2026 totals K205,364,500.00 representing 24.33 percent of total ABG expenditure. The allocations are distributed as follows:
- Health and Education – K112,165,400.00 (inclusive of new allocation of K2,039,000 for the Buka General Hospital Health Function Grant)
- Governance and Administration – K62,784,000.00
- Law and Justice – K11,292,600.00
- Legislative Government – K10,637,800.00
- Judicial Government – K2,629,700.00
- Economic – K3,720,000.00
- Social – K1,190,000.00
- Infrastructure – K945,000.00
“These grants keep government operating by funding salaries, essential operating costs, and routine service delivery, and they also sustain the Legislature and the Judiciary through direct recurrent appropriations,” Minister Punghau clarified.
Development Budget 2026
The total development budget for 2026 totals to K603.11million and includes Restoration Development Grant (RDG) Arrears, RDG Annual allocations, Public Investment Program (PIP) and donor funding.
An allocation of K100million has been set aside for RDG Arrears, directed primarily toward capital recovery and productivity through infrastructure development, economic programs and government and institution strengthening.
Sectoral allocations under this component include:
- Legislature – K1,600,000.00
- Government, Public Service and Independence – K26,850,000.00
- Law and Justice – K3,700,000.00
- Health and Education – K10,800,000.00
- Research, Science, Technology and Innovation – K1,500,000.00
- Infrastructure – K34,250,000.00
- Economic – K18,600,000.00
- Social – K2,700,000.00
Under RDG Annual appropriation of K50million, funding is distributed on a regional basis to support balanced development across Bougainville.
“This allocation is distributed across Bougainville to support balanced regional development, with the Northern Region receiving K15.4million; the Southern region receiving K15million; the Central region receiving K12million while districts receive K4.1million, Nissan and Atolls receive K2million and headquarters receive K1.5million to support coordination and delivery across the regions,” Minister Punghau explained.
The passage of the 2026 ABG Budget concluded the Bougainville House of Representatives’ sitting for 2025 and sets the fiscal framework for delivery, accountability and development priorities in the year ahead.
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