Budget proposals need to be feasible; Nishan De Mel

COLOMBO (News 1st): Budget Proposals advertised in the budget are not implemented because they were not seen as feasible, Verité Research Economist, Nishan De Mel said.

De Mel, highlighted the importance of budget proposals to be implemented with detailed estimates of calculation, sensitivity and scenario analysis of estimates, feasibility of the project and identifying risks and mitigation studies. "Budget Proposals advertised in the budget and later not implemented because they were not seen as feasible", he said. De Mel said this at the weak implementation and formulation of Budget Proposals over the years which has been reflected in the consistent missing and revising debt and revenue targets at the Improving National Budget practices conference. "Budget Outcomes deviate from revenue targets after 2009, revenue outcome is lower than the revenue projections every single year," He further added. "Sometimes they are underpeforming by a very large margin; 2014 by 18%, 2009 18%, 2018 18%. So you may also observe a certain cycle and there is too much, in fact, political influence in professional management of the Budget because in the cusp of election years the problem seems to get worse", he said. De Mel further outlined that the Parlimentary Budget offices should be implemented for a proactive disclosure of data which will enable the provision of technical, reliable and non-partisan analysis of budgetary reports to the public and support the public finance committees and MPs in the Parliment.