2015 budget under the microscope

The Legislative Assembly Public Finance Affairs Monitoring Committee has met with government representatives on budget execution issues. The president of the committee, Mak Soi Kun, said they have learned that the lack of effectiveness in central recruitment and the delay in projects open biddings resulted in the low budget implementation rate.
The Legislative Assembly’s special committee on public finance invited some government departments that had a low budget execution rate in 2013 but still had a relatively higher increase rate in their budget for the year 2015 to explain their rationale.
Representatives from some government departments that had the lowest budget execution rate in 2013 are among the ones that are hiring most public servants in 2015, namely the Science Technology Development Fund, the Cultural Affairs Bureau and Environmental Protection Bureau, all present at the meeting.
According to the 2015 budget, in terms of personnel changes the government expects to recruit around 2,600 public servants and see another 360 leave, which makes the total number of people working in public departments and organisations some 35,015 until the end of this year, a 6.8 per cent increase compared to that of 2014.
Three government departments expect to see most newcomers are the Health Bureau, the Public Security Forces Affairs Bureau and the Cultural Affairs Bureau; the Cultural Bureau plans to recruit 184 new staff and sees the highest increase rate in the number of staff at 33.4 per cent.
According to the supplement of the 2015 budget and information form of the Financial Services Bureau, as at the end of August 2014 the budget execution rate of the Science and Technology Fund was 19 per cent, while the Marine and Water Bureau’ s rate stood at 32.7 per cent.
The 2015 Budget estimates that the revised total revenue of the government in the coming year will reach some MOP155 billion, up just 0.7 per cent year-on-year, while the revised budgeted total expenditure is some MOP83.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.8 per cent.
In addition, the general integrated budget of public expenditure for 2015 (before revision) had increased MOP13.1 billion compared to the beginning of 2014, reaching a total of some MOP93.1 billion. Legislators that approved the budget had explained before that the growth was due to the suggestion of increasing the salaries of public servants in the budget.
Legislator Mak Soi Kun said that government officials from the previous term had promised to hand in the draft on budget law by the end of last year but did not keep their promise.
He indicated that the newly-inaugurated Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong Vai Tac, who was also present at the meeting said that he has taken up the relevant works and is following up on the matter, although no timetable was given to the legislators.
Mak Soi Kun added that the Legislative Assembly’s special committee on public finance’s main focus of this year’s tasks include urging the government to finish the budget law as well as the procurement law revision and supervising the government to make better use of fiscal reserves for investment.