Lack of transparency on progress of budget proposals jumps from 45% in 2021 to 70% in 2023

While Sri Lanka is about to witness the much awaited 2024 budget proposals tomorrow (November 13) by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the capacity of a Finance Minister, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has highlighted the need for improving the fiscal transparency that comes with a sustainable economic recovery.

Between 2017 and 2021, 45 per cent of information on the progress of budget proposals was not disclosed. This figure has jumped to 70 per cent in 2022 and 2023, according to a systematic evaluation conducted by Verité Research. These details were revealed during a recent media briefing held at the Verité Research institute in Colombo.

Information was not disclosed proactively online, nor in response to the right to information requests filed, the evaluation further highlighted. These findings are reported in budget promises, an online platform of Verité Research that has monitored the progress of high value budget promises made by the finance ministers since 2017. Failure to disclose information has been a problem every year.

Verité Research’s mid-year update exposed that, as of June the progress of 68 per cent of the 25 highest value proposals in the budget speech for 2023 cannot be assessed due to the lack of information. Information was available to assess progress of 32 per cent of proposals, but only eight per cent of these were on track and 24 per cent demonstrated poor progress.

The total value of all 25 proposals tracked by Verité Research is Rs. 49.3 billion. The value of proposals where progress remains unknown accounts for 97 per cent of this value which is equivalent to Rs. 47.7 billion.

The lack of fiscal transparency is a key factor that contributed to the present crisis and loss of credibility of the government, both at home and abroad. Several commitments made by the government in its agreement with the IMF and several recommendations made by the IMF in its latest governance diagnostic on Sri Lanka, highlights the importance of improving fiscal transparency.

Greater transparency and accountability about the progress of budget proposals could help to address the concerns noted by the IMF and in turn improve Sri Lanka’s chances of a sustainable economic recovery, the evaluation report noted.