Islamabad, April 28: The right time for making inputs and giving proposals and recommendations in the Federal Budget 2010 is now when the budget is being finalized. All stakeholders including representatives of the business, media and civil society community need to play an active role to influence Federal Budget for a comprehensive budget. These views were shared by Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA, Federal Minister for Petroleum and former Finance Minister at the PILDAT Briefing for Business, Media and Civil Organizations on How to Influence the Budget in Pakistan held here today. He said that the Parliamentary Standing Committees need to play an effective role in the pre-budget process and hold public hearings on budget and share their recommendations with the Ministry of Finance ahead of finalization of budget.

Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA, who was the Minister of Finance in 2008 when for the first time details of Defence budget were tabled in the Federal Budget in the Parliament, said he believes in comprehensive reforms to improve the Parliamentary budget process and has lead this effort since his days as an opposition MP. �I am sitting here today in my capacity as a Member of Parliament who believes in budget process reforms and has worked alongside PILDAT,� he said. True to its promises, the Government plans to start the Parliamentary Budget Session in May and with Constitutional enhancement of Senate�s role in the Budget Process, the budget debate in the Parliament is expected to be more meaningful this year, said Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA. Standing Committees have all the rights to scrutinize demands for grants for their respective ministries and should carry out stringent oversight of the executive throughout the year. The capacity and support to committees needs to be built and enhanced, he believed.

Presenting the PILDAT perspectives on Federal Budget Process and How to Influence Budget, Mr. Ahmad Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director PILDAT said that the objective behind the Briefing is to enhance knowledge of various stakeholders on the Budget Processs, make Budget Process more inclusive, make Parliamentarians� input more effective in the budget process and promote thought process on further empowering Parliament on the Budget. Pakistan�s Federal Budget Process begins in October with the issuance of a Budget Call Circular. From November to February, detailed estimates are prepared; review and recommendations on the budget are finalized from February-March; Detailed scrutiny is carried out in March alongside formulation of Budget proposals till May while the Cabinet approves budget proposals in May or June and the National Assembly passes the budget as per article 80 to 85 of the Constitution before June 30. Historically, National Assembly debates on budget have not been more than 11 days on average which needs to be increased substantially. Outlining PILDAT proposals for budget process reforms, he said that Parliamentary Committees, especially Finance Committee, should hold Pre-Budget Public Hearings from Oct-Feb to compile ideas, views and suggestions about the next budget from the stakeholders. The hearings should be publicised in the media and media be allowed to cover the Consultations. Recommendations of each Standing Committee should be documented and sent to the Finance Ministry by April 2010. Recommendations should be the priority consideration by the Priorities and Annual Plan Coordination Committees, Ministry of Finance. Parliamentary Committees should receive public proposals and petitions relevant to their domain throughout the year also, he stressed. Duration of Parliamentary Budget Process be increased from a minimum 45-60 days. After presentation of budget, each Standing Committees should get a briefing from the concerned Ministry and review relevant Demands for Grants for 2 to 3 weeks prepare their reports for the House and the Standing Committee can also draw on expert input at that stage, proposed Mr. Mehboob. Stakeholders including business, media, and civil society should engage with Parliamentary Committees, especially Finance Committee to influence budget, submit precise written proposals for budget, provide input on Legislative Oversight, especially budget spending and lobby with Committees to hold open Public Consultations, he concluded.

Mr. Ivo Balinov, Senior Program Officer Parliamentary Development, Parliamentary Centre, Canada, gave an overview of the Canadian methodology of the budget process, explaining clearly the finance cycles throughout the year, the concept and implementations of the public consultations and the immense role of media in making the process a success in the end. He compared the Pakistani Budget process with the Canadian one and gave recommendations on the changes that needed to be brought to the system to make it more effective.

Mr. Jesse Biddle, Senior Associate of the ARD from the United States of America said that the Institution of parliament is such where public voices can be heard and acted upon. He agreed that the length of time of the debate must be enhanced and that the 18th Amendment has opened up greater opportunities for the parliament to participate, perform and deliver. Business community and civil society needs to develop more constructed capacity and understand the government process so they can efficiently participate in the process. A key element is that advocacy is usually evidenced based, which is often struggled by civil society.

Outlining key proposals at the Briefing, Syed Naveed Qamar said that hopefully this year, the budget will be presented in May so that there is enough time for debate. He said that the role of Parliamentary Committees was very important in the entire process. He stressed on the need for supplementary grants and said that the Finance division has had more influence over the budget than the parliament, which is one thing that needs to be changed. Answering a question, Syed Naveed Qamar said that now is the time for the business community and civil society to give their inputs in the budget, rather than boycotting it once it is out. He further explained that setting up price for items does not fall under the budget and if sugar prices were to increase, this cannot be related as a flaw in budget.

Concluding the briefing session, Syed Naveed Qamar lauded the role of the media saying that today�s media has been most effective in pointing out the problems in the society and governance, to an extent that has been missing in the last 20 years. He said that there should be national consensus on policies and on every changing government; the policies should not change on solving key issues.

The Briefing was organized by PILDAT as a part of the Parliamentary and Political Party Strengthening Project being executed by PILDAT in association with the Ottawa-based Parliamentary Centre with the support of Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.