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TANK, Dec 21 (APP): Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CDPI), a non-governmental organization in its fourth annual report on the “State of budget transparency in Pakistan, International Best Practices”, released here on Thursday has called for budget proposals to be widely discussed with civic groups, government agencies and key stakeholders.
The report was aimed to present findings and facilitate dialogue between governments, civil society and the citizens at large. It recommended launching of a centralized digital platform dedicated to fostering citizen participation.
The report also recommended separate budget statements for women, minorities, children, and PWDs, outlining specific allocations and strategies tailored to each group’s unique needs and challenges.
The report urged the governments to ensure availability of budget data in widely accepted machine-readable formats like Excel and CSV.
It said that the participation of citizens in the budgeting process should be given legal protection and government agencies should be required to consult with the citizens during the various stages of budget making process. In particular, the role of MPs should be enhanced during budget formulation and its implementation.
While talking to the elected representatives, LG representatives, CSOs and media persons on the occasion, Inayat Ullah Khan of CDPI said that for the past decade, CPDI had been working to improve the budgeting process in Pakistan from the district to the federal level to promote transparency in it. As a result, fourth report based on “State of Budget Transparency in Pakistan 2023” has been released, he said.
He said that the report not only examined budget transparency in Pakistan but also helps to gauge the effectiveness of access to information laws in Pakistan in obtaining budget information.
This report, he said recommends that Instead of fast-tracking the budget, it should be referred to the finance committees in both federal and provincial assemblies well in advance of the fiscal year.
The CPDI report also demands for making all Planning Commission Forms (PC-I to PC-V) available to the public across all federal and provincial levels, not just PC-I documents.
He further added that according to the report, participation of citizens in budgeting, legislature oversight, duration of budget debate in parliaments and equitable budgeting were required to be addressed.