Finance Ministry blamed for delaying Budget reports

• Bandula faulted for not attending a single meeting of the Public Finance Committee 
• In response, says Committee “useless” and “waste of time” 

By Ashwin Hemmathagama, Our Lobby Correspondent

The delayed report on the assessment of fiscal and financial basis of Budget 2019 compiled by the Committee on Public Finance was presented yesterday in Parliament with the Finance Ministry criticised for failing to release documents on time.  

The report was to be presented within four days of the Budget presentation and the Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill according to Standing Order 121 (5).

Presenting the report, Committee on Public Finance Chairman Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) MP M. Abraham Sumanthiran blamed the Ministry of Finance for lack of cooperation and the delayed response, which held back the compilation and presenting of the report on the fiscal, financial and economic points used as the basis in arriving at total estimated expenditure and revenue.

“On 12 February, the Committee wrote to the Ministry of Finance requesting the necessary details. But we received the requested information well after the Budget was presented in Parliament. Ministry of Finance gave us 10 new documents only on 11 March. This has been a problem we’ve faced getting information from the Ministry of Finance. And also, in presenting the report, one has to translate it into Sinhala and Tamil. This takes a long time,” he said.

Sumanthiran, criticising the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) lawmaker Bandula Gunawardana, who raised the issue of delayed reports in Parliament on Wednesday, for not attending the Committee meetings, said: “I regret that MP Gunawardana, who raised the issue, is also a member of the Committee. He hasn’t attended a single meeting of the Committee to prepare these reports. The person who raised the matter didn’t attend a single meeting. If he finds it useless to attend, he should resign and make room for another member.”

However, Gunawardana, rejecting Sumanthiran’s criticism held he finds the time spent for the Committee as a waste. “My attendance in the Committee is not the matter here. The Committee not tabling the report as expected in Parliament is the issue. I realised spending my time at the Committee meetings is unfruitful, so I don’t take part in these meetings. I have better things to do. I only hold the membership of this Committee in order to obtain certain information. I can resign at any time from this useless Committee,” he said.