Kalistani Major History

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Socialist Government aims to Adjust Spending priorities
"A Major readjustment of Government spending is in order," says Finance Minister
Kaliburg, Ananto
August 1, 4896


Finance Minister Dianna Delgado declares new priorities for Government Spending

The Republican Government took steps to alter the way the Money is budgeted in the Republic today. "For the first time, we have developed a budget based on percentages of revenue, rather than coming in with a rounded number."

The process, said the Finance Minister, involved a careful evaluation of expenditures with a goal of outcomes. "The Government is moving to performance based budgeting, where Ministries are required to a budget as a percentage of total revenues for this first round. We will hold budgets level, taking in account increased prices and approving new programs on a case by case basis. Within 5 years, we will conduct a new audit of the performance on the set of plans which were used to justify initial numbers, with a special emphasis on program completion and citizen satisfaction," said the Minister. "For example, we have increased subsidies to Food production in accord with the request for new vertical permaculture experimentation programs we are launching in Odufaray. Within 5 years the Ministry is expected to conduct an audit of the programs, in that case, it would be criteria like additional acrage planted, bushels produced and people fed. Those programs which malfunction can be suspended by Ministries when a malfunction is completed, but this also needs to be reflected in the post audit budgeting."

Phase 2 of the shift from Program based to performance based budgeting will follow the first audit, and will reflect both a sober evaluation of the goals and outcomes in Phase 1, as well as an evaluation of the needs of successful programs. "We will also take a look at some good programs which failed for reasons other than poor conception. Occasionally, We expect implementation to be an issue, and we will extend these programs for another phase to allow administrators to make adjustments and bring the programs in line with expectations and program goals." The goal is to create an opportunity to provide more services for more people in the Republic, and save money to the tax payer.

"In Phase 1," said Finance Minister Delgado, "We have increased the military budget to reflect the increased costs of operating a full time regular military, as well as social services, Ag and Infrastructure. Smaller programs took a hit. Our Head of State's Budget was decreased slightly due to budget requests from the President of the Republic's office. " But levels were set based on a percentage of the Total Revenues collected by the Republic, which have been remarkably stable over the years. "We cut the surplus from 56.5 percent to 49 percent of revenues, but the ultimate goal is to cut the surplus as well from the supply side, lowering taxes, and aiming for about a 15-20 percent of revenues, without cutting services."

The new spending bill is expected to pass easily and performance based budgeting will go into effect upon passage.


Republican Budget Proposal