News
Parliamentary Budget Office Bill passed with amendments
20 Jun, 2023
The Parliamentary Budget Office Bill was passed in Parlaiment today with amendments.
The Bill was debated in Parliament today and later passed without a vote.
The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) had earlier approved the Bill for the establishment of the Parliamentary Budget Office with one amendment to be made.
COPF Chairman Dr. Harsha De Silva had said last week that the legislation was long overdue and would inject some much-needed independence in the analysis process.
The Committee had scrutinised key areas of the Bill and paid special attention to the scope of the budget office with regards to evaluations done on economic cost and revenue generation only.
Further, a new provision grants the ability for leaders of recognised political parties to forward their own party economic manifestos to the office for independent analysis. This enables greater transparency and accountability by aspiring candidates who will have to have scientific methodology to their manifesto provisions.
COPF Chairman stressed that the Parliamentary Budget Office is an independent entity enshrined by legislature to analyse what has been proposed using alternative methodologies to see what the financial impact on the forecasts are. (Colombo Gazette)
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