Despite Reforms Next Year’s National Budget at Risk of Misuse: IWA

Syed Ikram Afzali, the head of IWA said that despite reforms in the process, the national budget is at risk of misuse by the government and powerful men. “The government has failed to transform the budget into a national process so that the people could have a clear voice in the budgeting process.”
The watchdog stressed that high-ranking figures close to the president are promising implementation of major development projects in many provinces without having the budgetary document.
“In last two months, our findings show that some high-ranking authorities of the president’s office have had traveled to provinces, where they pledged people of new development projects beyond a procurement process and budget plan which is disrespectful to the government structure,” said Naser Timory, a researcher of IWA.
The members of the IWA noted that the parliament should not take immediate decision regarding the next year’s national budget.
The presidential palace did not comment in this regard yet.
In October, the cabinet has approved in principle the national budget for the fiscal year 2019, allocating 399 billion Afghanis in the proposal, from which half of them will be paid for by domestic revenue.