COLOMBO: Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse presenting his maiden budget on Friday, November 12 emphasized the State enterprises are a burden to the economy.
He mentioned that there are approximately 300 state owned enterprises engaged in the provision of various products and services. The government has invested over Rs. 670 billion in these state-owned enterprises. In addition, annually about Rs. 75 billion is spent to maintain these entities and most of these institutions do not provide returns on the investments made by the government.
He also called out that the entire public service should be the facilitator of the production economic process and that the Public Service should not be an impediment to the same. Further he stated that the public sector should also contribute in promoting national savings.
He further stated, “The public service in our country covers the entire economy. The efficiency of the public sector has an impact on the efficiency of the private sector as well. We have firmly recognized the importance of transforming the public sector into an efficient service and one that is easily approachable by the public”.
Few of the significant proposals that would affect the public sector are as follows.
— Suspension of construction of new office premises for two years, except for office buildings that are under construction at the moment.
— To reduce Recurrent Expenditure, proposed to reduce the fuel allowance provided to Hon Ministers and government officers by 5 litres per month
— To cut down the telephone expenses of government institutions by 25 percent
— To reduce the provisions for electricity by 10 percent in order to encourage the shift to electricity generated through solar power.
— To extend the service period for entitlement for pension by Members of Parliament to ten years.
— Propose to prepare a Client Charter for every government institution to ensure government institutions are courteous and client-centric.
— Introduce an appraisal system for the public service based on the satisfaction of clients and Key Performing Indicators (KPI) and thereby motivate them and enhance the efficiency and productivity of the public service to an optimal level.
— Establish a new salary structure for the public service by removing the anomalies in public service salaries with effect from the next financial year.
— Establish an Integrated Results Based Management System to follow up the achievements of anticipated progress as per the plans prepared by integrating the national development priorities
— propose to extend the retirement age of public service to 65 years to strengthen the labour force
