Myanmar News Articles: Mon State Gov’t Urged to Explain 1,000 Million Kyat Gap in Budget

Reported by: News Zuu khet
Saturday, August 23rd, 2014

The Mon State Government should provide an official, public explanation for its one thousand million kyat budget discrepancy

during the 2014-2015 fiscal year, says Dr. Aung Naing Oo, Chairman of Mon State's law implementation, observation, and analysis committee.

"The State Government only [explained verbally] how much it spent, [and] in what place. We request [the government provide] a letter to officially report and account how much [state funds were] spent, and for what sector. They [the government] should provide [an] explanation in [an] official manner," said Dr. Aung Naing Oo, who is also a member of the Mon State parliament.

The Union Government has allocated 35,503,184 (35,503.184 million) kyat for Mon State's 2014-2015 fiscal budget; however, according to the law chart (3) of Mon State's financial reports, the Union Government is reported to have allotted 34,503,184 (34,503.184 million) kyat; exactly 1,000 million kyat less than Union Government reports.

The Mon State government has spoken to media reporters, claiming the difference between the Union and State governments' budgets is due to support allocated to fight poverty.

Dr. Aung Naing Oo states that neither the Union Budget Law nor State Budget Law allocates funds to fight poverty within the state government's fiscal budget, so such an explanation cannot account for the incongruity between the two budgets.

The Mon State Hluttaw law implementation, observation, and analysis committee submitted an official letter to the State Chief Minister at the end of July, requesting an official explanation and clarification for the budget discrepancies. However, to date, no explanation or clarification has been provided.

"I explain[ed] about this not only in front of the ministers, but also media [reporters]. What we are spending now is civilians' money. It is necessary to explain [to the people] how much the government spent, and for what sector, [in order to provide] transparency. If we cannot do this, our [state] government is not [a] fair government," said Dr. Aung Naing Oo.

IMNA reached out to Mon State's finance minister U Khin Maung Thwen to investigate the budget discrepancies, but received no response.

In further efforts to investigate this issue, IMNA contacted other Mon State government ministers, who replied that they could not provide answers, stating that only the finance minister could answer such questions.

The Union State Government and Mon State Government budgets did not have any discrepancies during the 2013-2014 fiscal year.