At long last, the Liberian Legislature through its Joint Committee on Ways, Means, Finance & Development Planning and Public Accounts and Expenditure began scrutinizing the 2019/2020 National Draft Budget.
The National Draft Budget is in the tone of US$532 million.
According to our reporter, the process began with the revenue component of the proposed National Budget on Capitol Hill.
Heads of government’s ministries and state-owned enterprises were requested to submit copies of their 2018/2019 budget Performance Reports, income statement, statement of cash flows, statement of retained earnings and strategic plan as required by the Public Financial Management Law of 2009.
Ministries and agencies that to appeared before the Joint Committee on Tuesday, July 30, were the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and the National Port Authority (NPA).
Over 40 government revenue generating and spending entities are expected to appear before the Joint Committee between July 30 and August 9. The expenditure component hearing will commence immediately following the revenue portion hearing.
The scrutiny of FY budget 2019/20 came almost a month after the budget was submitted to the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The budget delayed more than one month before it was submitted to the Legislature.
Some analysts argued that the delay in the budget submission would ultimately delay its passage since deliberations and final scrutiny may likely extend beyond 30 days.
According to Section 11 of the Public Financial Management Law, the President shall submit the Proposed Budget and accompanying documents to the Legislature no later than two months before the start of the fiscal year and that the preparation of the National Budget shall follow the process and time table set forth in Section 11.
President George M. Weah on April 23, 2019, wrote the legislature and requested a 45-day extension of the deadline for the submission of the 2019-2020 Budget from Tuesday, April 30, to Saturday, June 15, 2019.
The President extended his regrets for not meeting this deadline.
He argues that the delay in the presentation of 2019/2020 Fiscal Budget by six weeks (45 days) would enable him to present an all-inclusive national budget against a backdrop of negative economic forecasts.
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