Pakistan was mentioned in the “Annual Budget Transparency Report 2020” released on Monday.
Washington:
Pakistan does not meet the minimum requirement for budget transparency, said an official US report, alleging that the country had not adequately disclosed all government-guaranteed debt obligations, including corporate finance. ‘State for Sino-Pakistan Economic Corridor Projects.
In its 2020 annual budget transparency report released on Monday, the US State Department said that Pakistan was one of the countries that had made no significant progress in meeting the minimum requirements for budget transparency.
Bangladesh is the other country in South Asia to be included in the list, which also includes Saudi Arabia, Sudan and China.
During the reporting period, the Government of Pakistan made its executive budget proposal, adopted budget and end-of-year report widely and easily available to the general public, including online. The government has released limited debt information, the report said.
“The government has not adequately disclosed all public debt and government guarantees, including funding to state-owned enterprises for the Sino-Pakistan economic corridor projects,” he added.
According to the report, publicly available budget documents provide an essentially complete picture of most of the government’s planned spending and revenue flows, including revenues from natural resources.
“The budget of the intelligence agencies has not been subject to adequate parliamentary or civil scrutiny,” he added, adding that the information in the budget was deemed generally reliable and subject to audit by the supreme audit institution of Pakistan.
Although the audit reports were made public within a reasonable time, the reports did not contain findings, recommendations or substantive accounts of the completeness or accuracy of the public accounts, the State Department said.
He said Pakistan’s tax transparency would be improved by making full and timely information available to the public on government obligations and government guaranteed debt, subjecting intelligence agency budgets to parliamentary or civilian scrutiny and including substantive conclusions and recommendations within the supreme audit institution. audit report of the government’s annual financial statements.
In the report, the State Department concluded that of the 141 countries assessed, 76, including India, met the minimum requirements for budget transparency.
“Two governments, Samoa and Togo, met the minimum requirements in 2020 after not meeting the minimum requirements in 2019. Sixty-five governments did not meet the minimum requirements for budget transparency. Of these 65, however, 14 governments have made significant progress towards achieving the minimum requirements for fiscal transparency, “he said.
