Sri Lanka, as a debt-ridden and bankrupt country, it is upon the Public Officials to ensure that budget promises are fulfilled, stated Eran Wickramaratne MP. As the month-long Budget debate came to an end, a reality check of the Budget proposals is a necessity. He emphasised that all heads of ministries and departments should fulfill their accountability and responsibility in this regard.

In general, governments in this country do not attain state revenue presented by budgets. The revenue forecast in the Budget of 2023 will decrease by about 15%. It has been estimated that the state income in 2024 will increase by 45% over the actual income in 2023. It can be said right now, that this is not achievable. But this should be analyzed.

State revenue in 2024 is projected to be about Rs. 4 trillion and expenditure about Rs. 8 trillion, a deficit nearing Rs. 4 trillion. Country’s debt is 128% of GDP, with plans to bring it down to 95% by 2032. Debt restructuring is essential, without which the goal to bring down debt to 95% by 2032 will not be attainable. We are happy that the International Monetary Fund has approved the second loan tranche and the agreement of the lending countries to restructure debt.

Wickramaratne, focusing on large-scale foreign funded projects of which there are approx. 116, said that 61 are underperforming and funding has been suspended for 31. He emphasised the importance of adopting methodology to assess for appraisal performance and progress, driving implementation.

The Budget proposes the establishment of new investment zones. There were such proposals since 2017 but none have come to fruition to date. The Auditor General himself had stated that albeit budget allocations, investment zones have not been set up.

In this Budget, there is emphasis on a National Artificial Intelligence Centre with a budget allocation of Rs. 3 Billion. Wickramaratne queried if there had been an appraisal done to this proposed investment with a projected ROI. Access to information on government projects on appraisal and performance is minimal. Inability to obtain information about government projects has increased from 12% in 2016 to 97% by 2023.

We must move away from our set mindset on ownership. Assets/resources belong to the people of a nation and not to a ministry/department or its workers. Assets/resources are of no use to its people, if not utilised and utilised at the right time. Assets/resources must generate financial and economic return to its people. Ownership alone is of no benefit to a nation or its people.

Government owned land is of no use if they do not generate benefit to the people of the country. Resources are of no use if they do not generate benefit to the people of the country. Wickramaratne made reference to a visit he made to Eppawala 20 years ago as the head of National Development Bank. There was resistance to bring in new investment for value addition. To date, Eppawala has not developed to its potential.

If the Middle Eastern countries held on to ownership of its oil resources, rejecting foreign investment, they’d still be Bedouin communities in the desert. These countries have economically advanced in the past 40 years and are now moving into new areas of development. Ironically, with the progression towards green energy, oil as a resource will continue to lose its value over time. In the same light, Sri Lanka has high quality graphene – it must be utilised in a timely manner. If not, with the advancement of science, artificial graphene being developed by China may reduce our potential gains.

The need of the hour is an independent Parliamentary Budget Office for which an allocation is set aside. Initially, the expressway from Colombo to Matara was built. Subsequently, the extension of the expressway from Matara to Hambantota was executed without an assessment of an ROI. Many government projects do not generate benefits to the people because of the absence of proper evaluation.

The MP insisted that we must move away from politicised decision-making to rational policy and managerial decision-making based on economic and financial assessments.

The establishment of an independent Parliamentary Budget Office must be based on a few fundamental principles; – the formation of a budgeting system, the development and execution of a budget based on scientific principles. We have a six-month process for a budget, which should not be the case and inadequate – budgets must be a continuous development – financial management, including that of the executing ministries/agencies performance must be monitored – compliance with law and regulations must be monitored – executive orders must be evaluated and endorsed prior to promulgation.

A clear example of this is the more recent decision to ban chemical fertiliser instantly, for organic fertiliser. Had there been an assessment of this directive by an independent body, it would have been evident that it is an initiative to be rolled out over a 10-15 year period and not one that should be attempted overnight. We would have avoided a catastrophic disaster to the farming industry and to the country in general.

Wickramaratne reiterated that critical decisions made in the recent past and that of the current Budget, should have been vetted by an independent body such as a Parliamentary Budget Office. Personal income tax, defence and welfare expenditure are among the expenditures that need continuous monitoring and are high. Wickramaratne urged the government to set up the independent Parliamentary Budget Office with immediate effect based on critical principles which include procurement, privacy policy and information policy, use of technology, coordination and review of all significant regulations.

In conclusion, Wickramaratne urged the public officials to take it upon themselves to ensure that the Budget is executed and in doing so ensure evaluation of decision-making and monitoring of the progress.