Statutory authorities’ funds vital

By MARK HAIHUIE
Statutory authorities need to have adequate funds to carry out their mandated roles, Institute of National Affairs executive director Paul Barker says.
He said this yesterday when commenting on the Government transferring these funds into Consolidated Revenue when carrying out the Public Money Management Regularisation Act.
Barker told The National that most of these funds were set aside for long-term investments that were vital to certain economic sectors.
“It is also crucial that the respective statutory authorities have the funds required for them to perform their functions,” he said.
“The Government has made a commitment to releasing funds to these authorities for their operational purposes, but this needs to be in a timely manner and adequate.
“The respective regulatory authorities were established to perform important functions.
“Their revenue-collection capability was a component of the operations to enable them to perform efficiently, and often more efficiently than under their former departmental structure.
“Most such authorities would not have had much spare funding available, and many of these funds were collected for specific purposes to perform their mandated duties.”
Barker said there were exceptions, with some agencies being able to “accumulate substantial funds, markedly in excess of their own immediate operational requirements”.
“The Government has transferred the funds from multiple bank accounts, held with different banks, to Consolidated Revenue, and required the agencies to have their accounts with BSP,” he said.
“It’s true that the Government is short of funds. The principal of taxation is largely about general revenue for distribution by Government, according to priorities.
“Some agencies have accumulated more than they should have, in an unjustified manner”.
Barker stressed the need for Government expenditure to be monitored closely “to ensure that these transferred funds are utilised accountably for genuine public needs and priorities”.