Govt. to establish proposed budget office soon

By Sandun A. Jayasekera

The government has decided to establish the proposed ‘Budget Office’ (BO) next year to accomplish the goal of financial readiness.

Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake said steps would be taken to establish a separate budget office in Parliament to monitor the financial affairs by directly obtaining accurate information related to the government’s financial control, including income and expenditure.

Speaking at a public service programme jointly organized by the Parliament’s Communications Department and the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) under the sponsorship of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Mr. Dasanayake added that steps would be taken to strengthen Parliament, including the establishment of several new committees like the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, and the Committee on Economic Stabilization, as in the developed democratic countries.

The traditional role of the budget office is to function as a central command and control post, specifying the items of state expenditure, monitoring compliance with regulations, ensuring that the inputs are those agreed in the budget, and intervening as and when deemed appropriate.

A preliminary Bill for the establishment of the Parliamentary Budget Office was presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to the Cabinet on October 31, 2022, and the cabinet decided to forward the draft Bill to all the party leaders in Parliament and get their opinion on the matter.

Accordingly, the cabinet has given the nod to forward the proposed Bill to the Legal Draftsman to draft the Bill incorporating the proposals provided by the Party leaders.