Every year, the government makes promises on how it plans to spend the public’s money. But do we know if it kept these promises? In 2018 for one third of the promises over Rs. 1,000 million, information was undisclosed, the promise was removed from the action plan or progress was less than 33% of that targeted.
What is Budget Promises?
BudgetPromises.Org tracks new expenditure proposals or ‘promises’ in the Budget Speech (listed in Annex 2 of the speech) which have an allocation of over LKR 1,000 million. In 2017, the platform tracked 37 proposals valued at LKR 116,910 million. In 2018, the platform tracks 38 promises with a total value of LKR 149,350 million.
The platform is updated twice a year and assesses each of these promises using two indicators: Openness and Progress. A mid-year assessment of performance for the first six months is released in October of the year and a year-end assessment of performance for the full year is released in April/May of the following year.
Progress Tracker
This tracks to what extent the government is doing what it is saying. It evaluates the level of progress of the government in implementing the promises, based on timelines and milestones established by the agency responsible.
