An analysis has been put together by a Consortium of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) titled “Budget Credibility report 2017-2019: How Credible is the Sierra Leone Government Budget?” and will be launched today Wednesday August 19, 2020 on AYV TV at 3:00pm. The team is led by Christian Aid under the DFID supported Public Financial Management (PFM) Project titled “Strengthening Public Financial Management, Anti-Corruption and Accountability Institutions in Sierra Leone”. The rationale of the report is to highlight performance against the budget at the total and sector levels, to draw out some of the reasons behind this and identify the impacts on public service delivery.
The assessment they hoped will assist government in addressing some of the challenges that are adversely affecting budget credibility. It will also provide a basis for dialogue between civil society, parliament, development partners and the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) regarding its Public Financial Management reform Strategy (2018-2021). The report was carried out at a macro level by analysing key sector ministries (health, agriculture and basic/tertiary education). “If total revenue or total spending differs from that in the Budget, it can undermine development plans and service delivery and/or result in unsustainable levels of borrowing and inflation.”
The Consortium stated that in a well-functioning system, budgets should reflect national development plans and priorities, be based on realistic estimates of revenue, and be designed to take into account the long-term sustainability of government finances. The Budget Credibility report they said is undertaken using the Public expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment framework of 2018. PEFA is a tool that helps governments achieve sustainable improvements in PFM practices by providing a means to measure and monitor performance against a set of indicators across the range of important Public Financial Management institutions, systems and processes.
The report outlines the various revenue policies and tax administration measures implemented by government, analyse budget credibility in 2017, 2018 and 2019, analyse revenue performance over the same period and provides sectoral analysis of disbursements made to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) with an overview of the context of fiscal management in Sierra Leone.
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque