Parliamentary oversight of budget

THE proceedings of a parliamentary committee on Monday highlighted the need for pre-budget parliamentary oversight besides thorough scrutiny of the budgetary proposals after its presentation in the National Assembly. The NA Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, chaired by Syed Naveed Qamar, accused the government of persistently violating its own laws by failing to circulate and publish the Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) by May 10, besides doing little on economic reforms. It also expressed serious concern over the continued heavy reliance on indirect taxes and petroleum levy instead of sustainable expansion of the tax base besides sluggish progress on critical structural reforms, the growing burden of circular debt in the energy sector, the slow pace of reforms in state-owned enterprises and rising socio-economic pressures caused by inflation, unemployment and poverty. In a democratic polity, the budget should be prepared in close consultation with the elected representatives as the participatory budgeting ensures that public funds directly reflect the needs and priorities of the voters. Any budget should represent aspirations of the people and input from the elected representatives ensures that community level needs are adequately taken care of. In this backdrop, it is regrettable that parliamentarians are not properly consulted during preparation of the budget and the brute majority is used to get parliamentary approval of the budgetary estimates and proposals without aligning them to the wishes and needs of the masses. The concerns expressed by the members of the committee and recommendations made on different aspects of budgeting could make a difference if the consultative process is intensified and formalized. The observations of the Chairman, Naveed Qamar were particularly important and must be reflected in the next budget if the Government really believes in transparency and provision of relief to the common man. He emphasized the urgent need to broaden th