Verite Research detects ‘potential slush fund’ in SL Treasury
In a startling revelation on Sri Lanka’s budgetary process, Verite Research, an independent think-tank based in Colombo, has detected a special allocation in the budget maintained under the National Budget of the Treasury that can be transferred to any other ministry.
Executive Director of Verite Research (VR7), Nishan de Mel told a media conference convened to announce results of the Open Budget Survey in Colombo on Thursday that this allocation for development activities what he called a ‘potential slush fund’ can be transferred to cover expenses under any other Ministry.
“The transfer does not need parliamentary approval and can be effected thorough the authorization of the Treasury Secretary,” he said adding that the only safeguard is very weak which is that parliament needs to be informed within two months of the date of transfer.
Mr. de Mel disclosed that the budget passed in December 2013 for the fiscal year ranging from January to December 2014 placed Rs. 62 billion in the Department of National Budget’s development activities pocket. This was quite close to the total government expenditure on all of agriculture and irrigation, he pointed out.
The almost Rs. 9 billion spent on the off-budget annual ‘Deyata Kirula’ exhibition and development programme was through this discretionary window. When considering the total disbursement for the government’s poor relief Samurdhi programme of Rs. 9 billion per annum, then this similar amount for ‘Deyata Kirula’ exhibition was somewhat alarming, he added.
The 2015 budget provided Rs. 90 billion under this line item was the only item in the budget to see a 46 per cent increase, he opined. On 5th November 2014, the government tabled amendments to the 2015 budget, which led to the total amount budgeted under ‘development activities to increase more than fourfold to Rs. 446 billion. This was done on the eve of the last presidential election, he emphasized.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka has been ranked 69 among 102 countries with a low score of 39 well below the present global average of 45 and one before last in South Asia in the Open Budget Survey (OBS) results released on Thursday after assessing budget transparency. Nilangika Fernanado, VR Assistant Analyst was instrumental in presenting the Sri Lanka report.
Releasing the report to the media, Mr. de Mel said that Sri Lanka’s budget transparency has been in decline over the term of the previous parliament.
In 2008 and 2010 Sri Lanka ranked first in South Asia. But at present it is ranked almost at the very bottom in the region, ahead of Nepal. He revealed that over the last few years, there has been a marked reduction in the ability of citizens, and interested stake holders to properly scrutinize and evaluate financial management of the country. It also indicates a decline in the credibility budget reporting.
The survey highlighted that the Government of Sri Lanka provides the public with minimal budget information and it was weak in providing the public with opportunities to engage in the budget process and oversight by the legislature. The OBS is the world’s only independent and comparative measure of budget transparency. The Open Budget Index (OBI) scores 102 countries on budget transparency based on expert assessments of budget documents and legislature.
The OBS looks at the transparency of the budgetary process. This covers three areas of assessment; firstly, the level of disclosure in budget documents, secondly, oversight by the legislature and the Auditor General and thirdly, public participation in the budgetary process.