Challenges of Budget Execution and Monitoring

1. Challenges of Budget Execution and Monitoring Waruni Apsara Walpita Assistant Director Department of National Planning Ministry of Finance and Planning Sri Lanka

2. What is Budget? A national budget is a public finance management instrument, reflect government policy, priority, planning and implementation processes for the delivery of public goods and services Budget deals with income and expenditure, thus combining public expenditure plans, revenue and tax legislation

3. Budget Cycle BudgetPreparation BudgetAuditing Monitoring /Evaluation BudgetLegislation BudgetExecution

4. Present Situation (% of GDP)

6. Major Challenges of Budget Execution • Difficult to achieve budgetary targets • Revenue Side • Expenditure side • Foreign aid for selected areas • Deficit should be financed from domestic sources • Tax (Direct or Indirect) • Domestic loans (Commercial Banks / Funds) • Open market Activities

7. Contd…… • Global economic instability • Increased fuel prices • Problems related to budgeting • Forecasting errors • Costing

8. What is monitoring? • Monitoring is the regular observation and recording of activities taking place in a project or programme. It is a process of routinely gathering information on all aspects of the project. • The regular collection of information for determining how a policy, program or initiative is doing at any point in time

9. Purpose of Monitoring Tracks inputs and outputs and compares them to plan Identifies and addresses problems Ensures effective use of resources Ensures quality and learning to improve activities and services Strengthens accountability

10. Way of Monitoring

11. Challenges of Monitoring Late submission of information Difficult to find correct information Lack of data Lack of coordination Lack of field visits

12. Cont. Difficult to find suitable projects Documentation errors Organizational & Political Problems

13. Thank you…….