Kayin reaches out to citizens with new budget
Kayin reaches out to citizens with new budget
Myanmar Times, 17 Oct 2018
URL: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/kayin-reaches-out-citizens-new-budget.html
The regional budget for Kayin State was announced at the Karen State Budget Transparency Forum as part of a series of efforts by sub-regional governments to provide transparency to its citizens, with support from The Asia Foundation (TAF).
Held on October 11 in Hpa-An, attendees included representatives from NGOs, civil society organisations, ethnic minority political parties and other stakeholders.
TAF’s Citizen’s Budget report presents important budget information through easy-to-understand text and visualisations. For example, the document explains the overall macroeconomic performance of the Kayin government, breakdown of revenue and expenditure, and provides information on where taxes are spent.
“During the dictatorship, for 50 years, the government and its citizens were far apart,” said U Zaw Min Htut from TAF.
“Budget transparency allows [us] to transition more smoothly to democracy by giving strength to state regions and consequently decentralising power,” he added.
This is the third and final step of workshops that The Asia Foundation provided in an effort to improve literacy and awareness of citizens regarding financial matters.
Nowadays, states enjoy a degree of freedom in planning their budget. But for this past six months, only six percent of Kayin’s state revenues have remained within the region.
As Kayin serves as a point of trade between Myawaddy border and Mae Sot, and a touristi destination, many believe that the Union government should allocate more funds to the area.
Out of all the industries, construction will receive most of the state allocation, in part because many Karen people suffer neglect due to their remoteness and poor road connections. Years of fighting, floods and an overall lack of funds have left the state underdeveloped.
The construction sector is of such importance that the government is keen to invite construction firms to attend future workshops in order to collaborate with municipal institutions.
In the future, if they receive enough funding, many people would like to see the money being invested in tourism to attract both domestic and international tourists. But for now, the state is left to itself to build much-needed infrastructure.
In rural areas of Karen state, a normal citizen can be taxed two or three times just in a span of two miles by different entities.
In addition to this, there’s also the taxes and fees collected by entities such as Karen National Union (KNU) which acts as a government, with its own jurisdictions, education and taxation policy, in territories along the border with Thailand.
On a national level, budgeting and auditing go through an intricate bureaucratic process.
The “Budget monitoring and oversight system in Myanmar” report by Renu Deshpande of TAF states that the central government has problems in planning projects at a local level to the extent that the budget, sometimes, is increased arbitrarily through com”munity contributions” and “no-name taxes”.
The Asia Foundation will host another forum this week in Tanintharyi Region.
Held on October 11 in Hpa-An, attendees included representatives from NGOs, civil society organisations, ethnic minority political parties and other stakeholders.
TAF’s Citizen’s Budget report presents important budget information through easy-to-understand text and visualisations. For example, the document explains the overall macroeconomic performance of the Kayin government, breakdown of revenue and expenditure, and provides information on where taxes are spent.
“During the dictatorship, for 50 years, the government and its citizens were far apart,” said U Zaw Min Htut from TAF.
“Budget transparency allows [us] to transition more smoothly to democracy by giving strength to state regions and consequently decentralising power,” he added.
This is the third and final step of workshops that The Asia Foundation provided in an effort to improve literacy and awareness of citizens regarding financial matters.
Nowadays, states enjoy a degree of freedom in planning their budget. But for this past six months, only six percent of Kayin’s state revenues have remained within the region.
As Kayin serves as a point of trade between Myawaddy border and Mae Sot, and a touristi destination, many believe that the Union government should allocate more funds to the area.
Out of all the industries, construction will receive most of the state allocation, in part because many Karen people suffer neglect due to their remoteness and poor road connections. Years of fighting, floods and an overall lack of funds have left the state underdeveloped.
The construction sector is of such importance that the government is keen to invite construction firms to attend future workshops in order to collaborate with municipal institutions.
In the future, if they receive enough funding, many people would like to see the money being invested in tourism to attract both domestic and international tourists. But for now, the state is left to itself to build much-needed infrastructure.
In rural areas of Karen state, a normal citizen can be taxed two or three times just in a span of two miles by different entities.
In addition to this, there’s also the taxes and fees collected by entities such as Karen National Union (KNU) which acts as a government, with its own jurisdictions, education and taxation policy, in territories along the border with Thailand.
On a national level, budgeting and auditing go through an intricate bureaucratic process.
The “Budget monitoring and oversight system in Myanmar” report by Renu Deshpande of TAF states that the central government has problems in planning projects at a local level to the extent that the budget, sometimes, is increased arbitrarily through com”munity contributions” and “no-name taxes”.
The Asia Foundation will host another forum this week in Tanintharyi Region.