ANKARA - TEPAV, stating that some of the legislation which is intended to be passed includes items that can have negative effects on the ambiguous environment in which fiscal discipline is needed increasingly, said "We stress once again that these attempts should be given serious consideration by the public."
Fiscal Monitoring Report - Budget Results for January 2008 prepared by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) Economic Stability Institute has been published. In addition to budget results, the report included a section evaluating "Attempts to Introduce various Legislations Towards Affecting Fiscal Discipline Negatively".
It is stated in the Report, which discussed three legislations in this context, that "Draft Law on Realization of Some Investments and Services through Models of Partnesrhips between Public and Private Sectors" is basically a consolidation of regulations concerning investment models like build-operate-transfer or Transfer of Operating Rights that have been legislated before and are still in effect into the context of a single law and it is stated that carrying out of its application by a Directorate General to be formed inside the State Planning Organization is planned. In the report which points out that the responsibilites for guarantees that will be given under the names like purchase guarantee, payment guarantee, etc. from now will be shared among the related ministry, the Ministry of Finance and the Undersecretariat of Treasury, "This sharing hints at a situation which seriously harms the function of the Undersecretariat of Treasury, which represents the legal personality of the government, as the representative of governmental liabilities. The principle that the Undersecretariat of Treasury has to know and follow up all financial risks (like the guarantees) that can be the source of a liability for the government and it has to be the sole authority that can give guarantees for them is neglected in this draft." It is stated in the report that whoever gives the guarantee, ultimately the responsibility will rest upon the Undersecretariat of Treasury and the Treasury will have the responsibility, on behalf of the public, for some processes which it can not be part of and that would seriously harm fiscal discipline, in the case of realization of those fiscal risks.
In addition to these, it is stated in the report that, from a legal perspective, the law which should arrange these liabilities should be law number 4749 on Public Finance and Debt Management. Contrary to law, the arrangement of them with a separate regulation contradicts with the law number 4749 and thus harms one of the fundamental principles of fiscal discipline and debt management, "The Treasury's being the single authority for debt and liability generation."
The report, which evaluated "Law on Having Some Investment and Services Performed through the Model of Build-Operate-Transfer and Draft Law for Changing the Law on Public Waterworks Administration General Directorate Organization and Duties" and "Proposal for Law on Procuring Additional Resources for Investments in Transportation Infrastructure" in this context, continued as follows:
"As a result, the aforementioned regulations which are intended to be passed includes items that can create significant risks in the future, that can impact expenditure priorities negatively, and that can have negative effects on the ambiguous environment in which fiscal discipline is needed increasingly by moving expenditures to out of the budget. From this perspective, we stress once again that the aforementioned attempts which mean a step back from the gains brought by Public Financial Management and Control Law, number 5018, and Public Finance and Debt Management Law, number 4749, should be given serious consideration by the public.
The Budget had a Deficit of 524 million YTL in January
In the report, it is stated that the Central Government Budget had a deficit of 524 Million YTL and the primary balance had a surplus of 3.8 Billion YTL by the end of January, and "A noticeable improvement in budget performance, compared to the same period of last year, is observed. This is due to a nominal decrease in budget expenditures and a significant increase in budget revenues. On the other hand, we need to wait for next months' data in order to evaluate the improvement in January as an indicator for the whole year."