Budget expenditure needs oversight at all levels, says Barker

By DALE LUMA
THE Government’s planned expenditure in the 2020 Supplementary Budget needs oversight at all levels to ensure accountability and no wastage, says Institute of National Affairs executive director Paul Barker.
He was responding to queries from The National on the Mid-Year Economic Financial Outlook and the Supplementary Budget tabled in Parliament last week.
Barker said it might be suggested that some of the K1.5 billion in new expenditure “is itself potentially wasteful, unlike some of the foregone activities in the 2020 Budget”.
“These new expenditure items have not been carefully designed and accountability is likely to be weak, whether district expenditure or (agriculture) commodity or stabilisation or SME (small to medium enterprises) expenditure,” Barker said.
“The mechanisms and implementation capacity that existed before are largely no longer operational and accountability mechanisms are weak.
“For this planned expenditure to be used effectively, there must be very close public awareness of the compositions and public and institutional oversight, at the national, district and institutional levels.”
He warned that failing to do that could lead “further deficient procurement and waste, while contributing to further debt”.
Barker said overall, the two papers tabled in Parliament highlighted the predicament that the economy and Government faced.
He also highlighted the need to address corruption and right-sizing of the public sector workforce to provide quality and efficient services while stamping out waste.
He suggests to the Government to reassess the role of and increase the accountability of state-owned enterprises.
He also said to “move to a more market determined exchange rate which discourages speculation and enables readier access to needed foreign exchange, encourages investment, exports and import substitution, in parallel with other measures”.