The Cabinet of Ministers have granted permission to publish the draft for establishing a Parliamentary Budget Office in the Government Gazette notification and then submit it to the Parliament for its approval.

Speaking at the Cabinet press conference held yesterday (25), Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister of Transport and Highways Dr. Bandula Gunawardena stated that the proposal submitted by President Ranil Wickremasinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies, was granted permission at the Cabinet meeting held on Monday (24).

"According to Article 148 of the Constitution, the Parliament has full control over the public finances of the State. However, the involvement of the Parliament is at a very low level during the implementation of Budget proposals. Therefore, approval was received at the Cabinet meeting held on 5 December 2022 to prepare a draft to establish a Parliamentary Budget Office. Accordingly, the draft which was drafted by the Government Legal Draftsman has been cleared by the Attorney General. Accordingly, the President's proposal to publish the draft in the Government Gazette notification and submit it to Parliament for its approval has been granted permission by the Cabinet of Ministers," he said.

He also noted that through the establishment of this Parliamentary Budget Office, the responsibility of managing the public finances of Parliament will become more meaningful.

Earlier, the State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya had told The Daily Morning that the Government was asked by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to establish a Parliamentary Budget Office in order to make the budget process more transparent and to strengthen the financial discipline of the country.