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The World Bank has pledged its support to the government's initiatives to develop an action plan for better management of all public resources.

The World Bank's Country Director for Sri Lanka, Peter Harrold, said that his organisation will provide technical and financial assistance to implement the final recommendations of the Country Financial Accountability Assessment (CFAA) prepared by a team of government and World Bank officials.

The draft report assessing Sri Lanka's management of public resources will come under discussion at a workshop in Colombo today.

Workshop participants will consider how its main findings and recommendations can be integrated into the Government's ongoing program of fiscal and financial management reform. The Government's far-reaching program aims to reform its financial budgeting, accounting, reporting and monitoring to make them serve the development process more efficiently, and to strengthen the agencies such as the Auditor General's Department, committee on Public Accounts and Committee on Public Enterprises, including citizen's access to financial information of the government and state run organisations.

A World Bank press release said that CFAA is a tool designed by the World Bank to assist its clients.

"It assesses risks to the development objectives of a country arising out of any gaps or weaknesses in financial management of public resources.

Work on a draft CFAA for Sri Lanka was undertaken from February to October 2002 by a team comprising World Bank staff, government counterparts, and consultants. The work was carried out through a review of existing studies and ongoing self-assessment reports of the government, desk research, field study in specific areas, and extensive discussion and dialogue with concerned stakeholders including the government and private sectors.

This assessment emphasises the importance of taking action that stimulate demand for prudent financial management and build capacity of the government to respond to the public's requirements for more efficient and effective delivery of services. Much stress is placed on an action oriented approach to strengthen public financial accountability and management that is crucial for economic growth and sustaining a strong economy," the press release said.

It said the assessment makes a number of recommendations to strengthen the primary institutions of public financial accountability."

"The effectiveness of parliamentary committees, such as the Committee on Public Accounts and Public Enterprises, will improve with greater public access to hearings in Parliament. The impact of the Auditor General will improve if it was made independent of the executive. The island's accounts would become more informative if the form and contents were in line with international standards of financial reporting. A more open and participative form of governance can be accomplished by removing obstacles, such as, certain provisions in the Officials Secrets Act and the Establishment Code.

The assessment concludes that there are substantial opportunities to introduce institutional reforms and capacity building for greater accountability and transparency," the press release said.

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