The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) has given its approval for the Bill for the establishment of Parliamentary Budget Office, pending one amendment.

During the meeting chaired by MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, the COPF noted that this legislation was long overdue and would inject some much-needed independence in the analysis process.

The committee scrutinized 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. There is no mandate to evaluate social impact.

• The selection process through an advisory committee consisting of the Chairs of the Public Finance and Ways & Means Committees and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament. This advisory committee will help the Secretary General of Parliament shortlist candidates for selection by the Constitutional Council for the Parliamentary Budget Office.

• The ability of the Budget Office to stay consistent with the National Physical plan and disseminate information in strict compliance with the Act that ensures that no sensitive data of compromising nature would be shared.

Further, the COPF says a new provision grants the ability for leaders of recognized political parties to forward their own party economic manifestos to the office for an independent analysis. This enables greater transparency and accountability by aspiring candidates who will have to have a scientific methodology for their manifesto provisions.

The chairman pointed out that the Parliamentary Budget Office is an independent entity enshrined by the legislature to analyze what has been proposed using alternative methodologies to see what the financial impact on the forecasts is.

The Bill was approved pending one amendment to present the budget of the Parliamentary Budget Office within 60 days.