The 14- volume Budget Package that Pakistani legislators
are expected to act upon within two weeks. Photo: Ellie
Valentine/DAI |
Islamabad, July 2006
Pakistani Legislators Receive Budget Analysis Tools
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When faced with a 14-volume, 400-page set of tables
and figures to read, digest, and analyze in a two- to
three-week period it is easy to understand why some
Pakistani legislators consider their role in the budget
“Mission Impossible.” The USAID Pakistan
Legislative Strengthening Project worked this year with
legislators at the national parliament and in all provincial
assemblies to identify how they could be more informed
and empowered in the budget process. The project provided
them with a workshop on the budget process, a published
“Guidelines to the Budget Documentation”
and a Budget Analysis Tool to assist them in their budget
oversight throughout the year.
In May 2006, the USAID project conducted a series of
“Budget Process and Analysis” workshops
for national and provincial legislators in Islamabad
and each provincial capital. These workshops oriented
legislators about the Rules of Procedure and constitutional
provisions related to the budget, provided comparisons
of the budget exercise with other countries, and most
importantly, built legislators’ capacity to analyze
the budget as a fiscal policy document that oversees
government operations. Legislators and workshop organizers
used the experience gained in the workshops to produce
a series of recommendations to enhance the legislatures’
role in the budget process. These included requests
for the legislators to get more detailed information
in a more timely fashion and having the relevant standing
committees scrutinize the budget to oversee the work
of the executive throughout the budget year. Legislators
described the workshops as “stimulating, enlightening
and timely.”
The budget process in Pakistan has been referred to
on occasion and perceived by many as a “secret
and a sacred” exercise. This perception is reinforced
when one looks at the budget cycle noticing that the
opportunities for the legislatures to have input to
the process are quite limited.
The USAID Legislative Strengthening Project provided
legislatures with the tools to increase their participation
in the legislative process by developing eight separate
Budget Analysis Tools for various sectors including
Health, Education, Population Welfare, Food, Agriculture
& Livestock, and Environment. The Budget Analysis
Tools are user-friendly, using popular spreadsheet software
easily accessed by anyone with basic computer skills.
With a simple click of a button on the computer screen,
parliamentarians can view the past budgetary revenue
and expenditure trends of the sectors, which indicate
spending levels compared to the specific policy objectives
of each ministry, and disaggregate allocations between
development and recurrent budgets. The tool is complemented
by a user manual that allows legislators’ support
staff to update it with new budget figures as they become
available.
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