Transparency improves in SL’S budget implementation process
The government has made significant progress in disclosing the status of implementation of promises in the budget 2017 in the last six months of 2017 and beyond, compared to the first half, a leading think-tank in the country said.
According to the latest budget promise tracker by Colombo-based Verité Research, which tracked 37 budget promises of budget 2017, the implementation status of only 11 percent of the budget promises is unknown, compared to the 51 percent recorded in the previous budget promise tracker up to June 30, 2017.
“Overall, compared to the first six months, the government has done ‘OK’ particularly in terms of disclosure,” Verité Research Assistant Analyst Nilangika Fernando told reporters in Colombo, yesterday.
However, the government has been able to fulfil only 8 percent of budget promises while the status of 35 percent remains broken or incomplete. The implementation of about 46 percent of the budget proposals is either halfway completed or close to completion.
Verité Research Research Director Subhashini Abeysinghe pointed out that despite the relatively improved transparency, the government has only utilized Rs.55.4 billion of allocated funds under the budget 2017, out of Rs.116.9 billion.
“The allocations are different to what they are actually planning to do and what’s actually happening. The question is where the money went. We don’t know what happened to Rs.21.9 billion, which was not disclosed whatsoever,” Abeysinghe said.
“It’s not a crime not being able to implement a budget promise as there could be other priorities when funds are needed and sometimes the proposals get delayed due to various reasons such as government procurement process.”
However, she noted that by disclosing this information to the public, the government could build credibility while gaining the trust of the taxpayers.