With the support of the Asia Foundation, Kayah State Government organized the Budget Transparency Forum in order to provide information on Kayah State’s financial situation

On August 17, the Kayah State Government, with the support of The Asia Foundation, organised a Budget Transparency Forum aimed at equipping civil society organisations and the community with the knowledge of Kayah’s state planning, revenues and spending process.

A total of 62 participants including Kayah Chief Minister U L PhaungSho, Speaker of the State Parliament U Hla Htwe attended the forum, which provided information on the state of Kayah’s financial situation.

The forum comes at a time when state and region governments in Myanmar are taking steps to strengthen democratic governance and their relationship with citizens after decades of secrecy surrounding budget data and a lack of public access to financial information.  

For example, for the 2017-18 financial year, Kayin, Bago and Tanintharyi State and Region Governments have launched Citizen’s Budgets, which are simplified versions of their subnational government budget.

During the forum an interactive forum, a panel was formed to discuss the issue of fiscal transparency and public participation in the budget and planning process. 

For example, U Aung Naing Oo, Member of the Parliament Accounts Committee pointed to the composition of the PAC saying that it included both members of parliament and local citizen experts. 

Budget Director U Ye Naing Aung outlined how they had already published the Kayah Citizen’s Budget on Facebook. The panellists recognized that these mechanisms still need to be made stronger but also called for civil society to play their part in actively and constructively making use of the processes and budget information already in place.  

The panel also included, Zaw Min Htut, Senior Program Officer of the The Asia Foundation, which aims to strengthen subnational governance in Myanmar.

(The Myanmar Times: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/budget-transparency-forum-held-kayah-state.html )

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