The Bougainville House of Representatives has passed the 2026 ABG Budget, a K844,090,000 financial plan that is 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 last week, and was passed unanimously by the House on Friday 19th December 2025, 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 police services.
This is 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, furthermore, 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.
