A network of civil society organizations under the umbrella of Budget Advocacy Network,Sierra Leone (BAN) has indicated that actual budget performance and credibility has remained a serious issue in Sierra Leone.
Spending plans laid out in the budget, the CSOs say are not delivered during the year.
The CSOs maintained that even though public financial management reform continues to show modest sign of progress over the years, successive studies on Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability in the country continues to highlight the challenges of reliability and predictability.
The CSOs underscored the point that while the debate and analysis of the budget laid before Parliament is important, it is equally important to monitor the actual spending that takes place during the year.
They have accused Government of not adhering to budget policy especially pointing out to the fact that changes made to the budget throughout the year by MDAs and other public entities, are not brought back to Parliament and that these are often the results of politically directed spending.
This BAN says it has got the tendency to push out spending plans of MDAs laid out in the budget.
The CSOs also bemoaned late disbursement of funds to MDAs which they indicated results into delaying or non-delivery of public goods and services.
They noted overall that implementation of the budget has remained a critical and real challenge for the delivery of goods and services and also attending to other development priority programs.