16 April 2004 03:22
Cabinet Streamlines the Budget Process
The Cabinet plans to redesign the way budget spending is structured to make expenditures more efficient, transparent
and centered in the hands of fewer government bodies.
"The budget must be formed based on the targeted results of state policies,'' Prime Minister Mikhail
Fradkov told ministers Thursday, adding that the existing "traditions" of forming budgets are inefficient and
should be discarded.
The new system will also make the budget more coherent and transparent, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said,
news agencies reported. As a result, taxpayers will be able "to understand what was the purpose of spending every
ruble and what result was achieved by doing so," he said.
The government is also working on a new system that will allow it to plan expenditures three years in advance,
Fradkov said. The switch to mid-term planning should add more predictability to the process, provide clear spending
guidelines for state bodies at all levels and increase accountability, Cabinet members said.
Using taxpayers' money more efficiently and openly is a key part of the Kremlin's plan to streamline
government and boost economic growth.
Deputy Finance Minister Tatyana Golikova said the budget overhaul would reduce costs by as much as 30 percent. Part
of this strategy is giving each ministry more control over its own spending, she said.
"Over the past few years all conditions have been created for the Finance Ministry to responsibly pass to the
state bodies the rights to distribute funds," Golikova said. "We will not insist on how much any given federal
body should spend on healthcare or education, for example," she said.
The government also said the number of state bodies entitled to distribute budget funds will be slashed from the
current 111 to just 32 by the end of the year.
Another way to boost efficiency, Golikova said, is to turn over the entire spectrum of services currently funded by
government to the free market.
Instead of paying monthly salaries and stipends to consultants and testing labs, for example, these services will be
paid for on a contract and freelance basis.
"We are talking about removing from the budget all services that should be backed by the market," she
said.
The billions of rubles freed will be funneled to priority projects and programs.
In a striking departure from the policies of previous cabinets, Fradkov proposed opening future Cabinet meetings to
the press for the duration of the session.
"I am proposing to have the Cabinet meetings broadcast to the journalists that cover the government's
work," he said Thursday.
Reporters are currently only allowed to hear the prime minister's opening remarks, and only general summaries of
what is discussed are made available either from the government press service or a Cabinet member who chooses to talk to
the press.
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[The Moscow Times] |
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