The Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), M.A. Sumanthiran said that the COPF has an onerous task in performing its duties as the Parliamentary Budget Office which is necessary for the Committee to function properly has not be set up as yet.There is provision to set up a Parliamentary Budget Office. The law has been drafted and it needs to be passed in Parliament. However, the setting up of the office can only be done after this Budget. Therefore, the COPF will not be able to perform the task that has been given to it during this Budget, MP Sumanthiran told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
With effect from October 20, the COPF has to present a report to Parliament within six weeks about certain issues. After the Budget speech, it has to make a report to Parliament within four days with regard to the assumptions that have been taken in the Budget proposals and that requires a lot of analysis.
Sumanthiran said that it will be difficult to perform the task of the COPF without an office to back the Committee. “Therefore, we may request the Speaker to authorise us to engage the services of an independent consultancy at least for this year until a Parliamentary Budget Office is set up. If we are able to do that, then we will present a report to Parliament which will be made public as to the provisions made in the Appropriation Bill and also the Budget proposals.
He said the COPF will independently advise Parliament and through Parliament the public as to whether the assumptions in the Appropriation Bill are right. The Committee would look into the Appropriation Bill overall and it won’t go into the policy aspects. The Parliament is free to debate the policy aspects.
The Committee will examine various assumptions made by those who prepared the Budget with regard to overall debt, Budget deficit and the revenue proposals and whether those are actually achievable, he said.
The COPF was set up by a resolution passed in Parliament on December 19, 2015. It is the first time an annual Budget will be referred to this oversight committee, prior to its second reading. The 20-member Committee consists of members of all political parties represented in Parliament. It will assess whether the Government is meeting revenue and other fiscal targets as stipulated in the Budget.