Thursday, July 6, 2017

Budget report now every 3 months

MEMBERS of Parliament (MPs) yesterday overwhelmingly endorsed the Written Laws (miscellaneous amendments) Act, 2017 that, among other things, enables the government to present the report on the implementation of the budget every six months.

The bills, if signed into law, will give enough time for the government to prepare reports on the implementation of the budget and present them before Parliament for discussion and assessment.
Tabling the bill, the Attorney General (AG), Mr George Masaju, told MPs that the bill aims at bringing efficiency in the implementation of the budget and that the new system will give enough time for government officials to prepare realistic reports.
The AG said the implementation of the government budget depends on the collection of revenues from various sources across the country and that quarterly presentation of the budget report has been a big challenge to government officials.
“It has been difficult for the government to receive budget implementation report every three months, therefore, the best thing is to get these report every after six months,” he said.
The AG added that the bill aims at making amendments to Section 439 of the Budget Act, Cap 349 that requires the government to present a budget implementation report every three months.
“This system does not give enough time for the government to prepare report on the implementation of the budget, because it fails to get all required information from its sources within stipulated short time,” said Mr Masaju.
The bill also aims at enabling the Minister for Finance and Planning to present the report of expenditure commitment every six months, contrary to the previous requirements of presenting the report quarterly.
Moreover, the endorsed bill now enables the government to present a mid-year statement on the budget. The bill basically omits the quarterly statement of the government budget.
Earlier, MPs supported the bill saying it aimed at improving the government performance in the implementa tion of FY budgets. Nsimbo MP (CCM), Mr Richard Mbogo, said changing from three to six months will enable the government to present a realistic report to MPs and thus minimise queries among MPs.
Special Seats MP (Chadema), Dr Immaculata Semesi Sware, advised the government to strengthen counting systems for the implementation of budget. She said there is need for the government to improve budget implementation system so as to fulfil its goals and MPs expectations.
Mlalo MP (CCM), Mr Rashid Shangazi, said South Korea is one of the countries that have benefitted from using the six months system in the presentation of the budget implementation report.

No comments :

Post a Comment