On 8th January 2017, EQUALITY for Peace and Development shared the main findings of its recent research on “Independent Review of Afghanistan 1396 National Budget Draft” with women affairs, civil society and human rights parliamentary committee.
It is the sixth annual report that is published and provides a snapshot of resources, allocations, and Public Finance Management Performance (PFMP). With this annual review, EPD aims to present a simple and coherent review of the budget so that people can understand the budget and what it means for their daily lives and review the quality of services via allocated resources. This independent budget review also provides details to Afghan parliament to review and approve the national budget. The process furthermore provides a platform for input on national budget planning from a civil society perspective. This snapshot budget review is a summary review released along with the sending of the budget to Parliament to provide a timely review of the budget and this year’s developments in public financial management, reforms, and benchmarks.
During the session Mr. Edrees Omarzad; executive director of EQUALITY for Peace and Development presented the main findings of this research report and discussed the reforms that the ministry of finance has brought in the draft budget terms of considering GRB, reducing fiscal gap, budget execution and transparency in revenue collection.
Ms. Fawzia Kofi; chairperson of women affairs, civil society and human rights parliamentary committee emphasized on importance of including gender issues in the national budget. Appreciating EPDs research report; she added that such reports especially regarding gender responsive budgeting should be conducted more.
Ms. Aziza Jalis; deputy chairman of this parliamentary committee criticized that in spite of allocating enormous budgets in different sectors due to lack of transparency, service delivery is in bad situation especially in rural areas.
For further details about EPDs research report on “Independent Review of Afghanistan 1396 National Budget Draft” please click on the following links and download our research report in Dari, Pashtu and English:
http://www.epd-afg.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/National-Budget-Review-1396-Dari.pdf
http://www.epd-afg.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/National-Budget-Review-1396-Pashtu.pdf
http://www.epd-afg.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/National-Budget-Review-1396.pdf