Sri Lanka gets EUR 9.8mn grant to strengthen public finances

Sri Lanka has signed financing agreements to secure a grant of EUR 9.8 million from the World Bank, European Union (EU) and Française de Développement (AFD) to strengthen the country’s management of public finances.
The grant aims to support improving economic governance, transparency and accountability in how public finances are spent.
The grant will be utilised to strengthen the overall accountability framework by improving the performance of the National Audit Office of Sri Lanka, in terms of stronger governance, greater accountability and enhanced institutional capacity in areas relating to audit planning, quality assurance, staff capacity, engagement of citizens in the audit process as well as in specialised audits such as procurement and environment audits.

“Weak management of public finances contributed to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, so it is crucial to strengthen the core public finance institutions and systems to shore up the economic recovery and get the country on a sustainable growth path,” WB Country Director for the Maldives and Sri Lanka Chiyo Kanda said.
“This project will leverage technology to develop and scale up the government’s nascent e-procurement system (e-GP) and enhance the institutional capacity of the National Audit Office of Sri Lanka, both important steps towards enhancing efficiency and transparency in public procurement and external audits,” she added.

The public sector is the largest purchaser of goods, works and non-consulting services in Sri Lanka’s domestic market. Procurement of these goods and services is often delayed, due to cumbersome and outdated procedures and processes, limited understanding of market approaches and lack of capacity and empowerment of procurement decision makers.  
“In the absence of digitised procurement tools and an efficient e-procurement system, Sri Lanka misses out on opportunities to leverage economies of scale and to monitor the efficiency and timeliness of procurement,” said Ambassador of the EU to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Denis Chaibi. 
“A strong and modernised public finance management system is vital for the country to mitigate the risk of crises in the future and to establish accountability and public trust in the system. The EU—through the WB—is pleased to support institutional capacity and transparency in Sri Lanka’s procurement and audit, which will improve economic governance and aid Sri Lanka’s recovery