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UGANDA PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE
(PBO)
PRESENTATION AT GLOBAL
SEMINAR ON
Open Government, Information and
Budget Transparency for
Parliamentary community.
 By Kintu Godfrey
OTTAWA, CANADA 9TH TO 12TH JUNE
2014
1
INTRODUCTION

The Presentation is to:



Highlight the mandate, role and functions of the
Parliamentary Budget Office in the National Budget
process to the participants.
Outline the basic structure and functions of the
Parliamentary Budget Office.
To highlight some aspects of effective legislative
scrutiny of the budget and budget process and
essential checks and balances for transparency and
accountability.
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THE BUDGET REGULATING LAWS

The Budget Process in Uganda is
regulated by a legal framework that
includes the following laws among
others:The Constitution of Uganda 1995,
 Public Finance and Accountability Act 2003,
 Budget Act 2001 and
 Other laws and regulations which provide
mandates for economic activities


such as the Local Government Act e.t.c.
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THE BUDGET ACT


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Arose out of a private members bill and found
popular support in Parliament;
However; Gov’t introduced the Public Finance
Management Bill which seeks to consolidate a
number of laws including the Budget Act
This Act was aimed at making the Budget process
more transparent, participatory and all inclusive;
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BUDGET ACT 2001
It mandates early and continuous
participation of parliament in the entire
budgetary cycle and;
 Provides key entry points for all
stakeholders to participate in the budget
process.
 Bestows responsibilities and roles on
stakeholders
 Sets Budget Timetable and dates of
submissions as per the different clauses in the
law.

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THE BUDGET ACT, 2001
The Act establishes among others;


A Budget Committee of Parliament, which
comprises all chairpersons of other Parliamentary
Committees as ex-officio members whose role and
functions include budget scrutiny and oversight.
The Parliamentary Budget Office, whose role and
functions are a subject to be discussed in this
paper.
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FUNCTIONS OF THE BUDGET COMMITTEE



Analyzing and proposing alternatives in the
preliminary estimates and the macroeconomic
plan and programs as outlined by Government.
This is done through submission of the
recommendations by the speaker to the
President.
Considering the National Budget and compiling
amendments and referring them to the relevant
Committees.
Carrying on such other functions relating to the
Budget as may be assigned to it by Parliament
under this Act or other laws.
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BUDGET ANALYSIS


Budget Analysis broadly refers to: Carrying
out of a comprehensive and
systematic assessment of the budget.
Budget Analysis therefore includes,
 Examine the extent to which the revenue
and
expenditure
targets
meets
the
proclaimed national objectives.
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THE PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE (PBO)

It was established by the Budget Act
as technical department for providing
Parliament and its Committees with,
 Objective
 Timely
and
 Independent
economic
and
financial
analysis of the economy and the national
budget in order to advise parliament and
support its budget oversight roles.
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MAIN FUNCTION OF PBO
The main function of the Parliamentary
Budget Office is to provide Parliament
and its Committees with independent,
objective and timely analysis;
 to assess economic and budget
proposals including analysis of the
economic and fiscal programming

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SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS OF PBO




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Providing budget-related information to all
Committees;
Submitting reports on economic forecasts, budget
projections, and reduction of budget deficit;
Identifying and recommending on Bills that
increase or decrease revenue and the budget;
Preparing analytic studies of specific subjects; and
Generally advising Parliament and its Committees
on the National Budget and the Economy.
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PROPOSED NEW FUNCTIONS AS PER THE
PFM BILL 2014
Examine and advise Parliament on the certificate of
gender and equity
Examine and advise Parliament on the treasury
memoranda.
Examine and advise Parliament on requests for
deviations from the Charter of fiscal responsibility
Examine and advise Parliamentary Committees on the
economic and financial impact of a Bill
Annually provide a review and analysis of documents
tabled in Parliament by the Executive
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APPROACH TO ANALYSIS BY PBO



The main approach of analysis by PBO involves
but not limited to:Provision of in depth economic and financial analysis
and Social economic analysis of public policy.
Assessment of the regulatory impact of proposed and
ongoing legislation.
Analysis of the financial implications of proposed
legislation, this includes review of certificates of
financial implications that accompany bills tabled in
parliament.
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APPROACH TO ANALYSIS BY PBO



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Review of private cost implications of citizens in
complying with legislation.
To assess the environmental and gender impacts of
legislation and budgets and advise parliament and its
committees accordingly.
And to provide advice to Parliament and its committee
on the Economy in general and the Budget in
particular.
Due to capacity limitations we are not yet in a position
to execute this whole range of services but hope to
cover them as the capacity of the office is enhanced.
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ANALYSIS/SCRUTINY OF BUDGET

The main approach in budget scrutiny
involves:
 Checking
the Completeness of the Budget
figures
 Checking the accuracy and correctness of
the budget figures.
 Checking the consistence of expenditure
with planned objectives and activities.
 Checking releases of funds against
budgetary allocations to various spending
units.
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ANALYSIS/SCRUTINY OF BUDGET
(CONTD)
 Checking resource outturns against the
budgeted projections.
 Checking on physical outputs of various
forms of expenditure through physical
inspection and public hearings by
identifying potential for budgetary wastes
and leakages.
 Summarizing and interpreting
submissions to make simpler reports to
enable parliament and its committees to
make informed decisions.
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MISSION AND VISION OF PBO


The MISSION of the Parliamentary Budget Office
(PBO) is to create technical capacity within
Parliament to interpret budget/economic data,
and to provide the Parliament of Uganda with
the objective, timely, non-partisan analysis
needed for economic and budget decisions.
VISION of PBO is being the most reliable
legislative policy decision support office.
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STRUCTURE OF PBO


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The functions of Budget Office fall under the
Legislative services directorate and the
department has two divisions namely
Economics Analysis
Fiscal Analysis
For each of the schedules expressed in the
organizational chart on slide 21, desk
instructions have been developed to routinely
equip and professionally guide the staff.
18
Current Organizational Structure of Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO)
DIRECTOR PBO
Assistant Director
Economic Analysis (1)
Principal Economist
Macro Sectoral (2)
Senior
Economist (2)
Assistant Director Fiscal
Analysis (1)
Principal Economist
Financial Programming/
monitoring and
accountability (2)
Senior
Economist (2)
Principal Economist
Expenditure & Tax (2)
Senior
Economist (2)
Economist (4)
Economist
(4)
Economist
(4)
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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS DIVISION

This deals with the analysis of
macroeconomic variables that are key
to the economy ( Price movements,
Balance of payments, Money Supply,
Interest Rates, Exchange rates, the
Public Debt, GDP, Budget Deficit).
 Generally
it deals with the analysis of the
sectors of the Economy( Real, Financial
and External sectors).
20
CHALLENGES


The Parliamentary Budget Office
Commonly known as PBO has been a very
welcome innovation and useful institution
in the Uganda Parliament.
However a number of challenges in its
operation still exist but we have served as
a model.

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High staff turnover
Inadequate capacity in specialized auditing
Inadequate financing to undertake topical studies
Lack of working equipment to facilitate networking with other
Government agencies
Accusation of bias in our work as its construed as pro or
against opposition members of Parliament
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APPEAL


Many Parliaments in Africa have come to
learn from us, those who benefit from us
make their own system even better
We do seek support both soft and
hardware towards improving our system
and technical capacity in addressing the
challenges mentioned above
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CONCLUSION
PBO has enjoyed immense support from the
Members of Parliament because of its outputs
informed by reports.
 We thank you for this opportunity and invite
you to The Parliamentary Budget office of
Uganda

THANK YOU
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