☰

Transparency vs. secrecy in budget

Shamsul Huq Zahid | Published: June 08, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

That the preparation of the national budget is a serious business has, apparently, been forgotten by the individuals concerned in the relevant government agencies and a section of the media in Bangladesh in recent times.
These people tend to be unduly transparent to divulge almost all information, including those about tax measures, about the budget prior to its presentation in parliament.  
Thus, most media reports containing information about the budget size, allocations to various sectors, tax measures etc., published in the weeks preceding the presentation of the budget are found to be correct.
Even 10 to 15 years back, the media hardly divulged any information about the fiscal measures in particular because publication of such news used to be considered unethical. The officials involved in budget preparation used to remain tight-lipped and avoided contacts with the media people and outsiders.
But gone are those days. These days even the man who presides over the financial affairs of the state himself discloses information about the budget in public prior to the start of the budget session of parliament.  
The situation is altogether different in most countries where budgets are adopted by parliaments. The relevant agencies try their best to keep the budget information a closely guarded secret.
India is one country where the ministry of finance does everything possible to keep the budgetary exercise shrouded in total secrecy. Top officials of finance ministry, experts, printing technicians and stenographers are quarantined at the North Block in the week preceding the presentation of the budget. These people remain totally cut off from the outside world, including their families. Only the finance minister can visit them. In case of any emergency, the families of the quarantined officials can leave a message on a number given to them, but cannot speak to them directly.
Besides, a team of intelligence bureau officials monitors people's movement and phone calls. The computers of the stenographers concerned are delinked from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) server to rule out the possibility of cyber-theft. A powerful mobile phone jammer is installed inside the North Block to block calls and prevent leakage of information, according to an internet source.
The finance minister's speech is the most closely guarded document in the Indian ministry of finance. It is usually handed over to the printers at midnight two days before the announcement of the budget.
One former finance minister of Canada used to write the budget speech on his own to avoid the leakage of its content.
But the situation in the case of the budgets in Bangladesh can be guessed well from the comments made by Finance Minister AMA Muhith and incumbent chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Nojibur Rahman.
When newsmen drew his attention to the two-fold increase in duty on sugar at the post-budget press conference held in the city last Friday, the finance minister expressed his surprise at the inclusion of the duty-hike proposal in his budget speech that he had delivered a day before in parliament!
 "It will not be in the Finance Bill", Muhith told newsmen, seeking a clarification on the issue from the NBR chairman.
 "It was a political decision that the issue (duty hike of sugar) will not be mentioned in the budget speech.  The tax measure will be amended through the parliamentary secretariat", Rahman said.  
The 'political' decision to hide the move to raise duty on sugar speaks of the lack of transparency in the budgetary process.
And the NBR chairman had only exposed his lack of knowledge about the parliamentary practices through his assertion that tax proposal about sugar would be amended through the parliamentary secretariat.
In fact, the secretariat does not have any power to amend any bill once it is placed before parliament. Anything placed in the House becomes the property of the latter. Without the approval of the lawmakers or Speaker nothing can be withdrawn or amended.
The finance minister at the time of adoption of the Finance Bill-2015 with the permission of the House would be able to drop the proposal to hike duty on sugar.
It is understood that the government does not want to impose increased duty on sugar right now because of its possible impact on sugar prices during the holy month of Ramadan. Yet despite withdrawal of the proposal, the traders might apprehend that the hike could come any time after the Ramadan. So, the possibility of a volatile sugar market in the days ahead cannot be ruled out.
Transparency in the mobilisation and spending of resources by the government is most welcome. But in some cases, it is better to keep things secret to avoid giving any undue advantages to the vested interests. None would mind if the government demonstrates full transparency in all types of its spending. The government, unfortunately, has always been reluctant to do that.
zahidmar10@gmail.com

Share if you like