Lawmaker advocates for enhancing budget precision in public projects

The Public Finance Affairs follow-up committee has revealed that five out of 10 projects monitored during the last quarter of 2023 have changes to their budgets due to input errors, according to the committee’s president, Wong Kit Cheng.

In a statement, Wong announced the formation of a team to monitor the data generated by the Financial Services Bureau, ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the information submitted in quarterly performance reports.

“In the budget execution report for the fourth quarter of 2023 regarding projects in which the budget had been adjusted by more than 100 million patacas, there were around 10 that we wanted the government to submit supplementary information on,” Wong said.

“Among them, we found that five of the projects had clerical errors related to the input amount, which affected our follow-up. However, after the government’s explanation and adjustment of the amount, the information submitted in the first quarter of 2024 has been adjusted.”

Wong also noted that relevant government departments have reviewed some deficiencies in the current input procedures and have made relevant adjustments.

“The amount of the first quarter information temporarily submitted is correct and will not have any impact on the fiscal budget utilization of the entire government department,” Cheng said.

“At the same time, we will also establish relevant input training, as well as a monitoring team to check the input information submitted in the quarterly performance report, ensuring accuracy and completeness.” Victoria Chan