The Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recommended that the Parliament adopt in the first reading draft law No. 10044-d, which provides for the reform of the Accounting Chamber. About this reported head of the budget committee, Roksolana Pidlas.
“The reform of the Accounting Chamber is the focus of all international partners this year. Adoption of the draft law is one of the two conditions of the US for providing direct budget assistance ($500 million after the first reading and another 1 billion dollars after the second reading), and the adoption of the draft law is very likely to become structural a beacon of the IMF after the fifth review of the program, which has just ended,” Pidlasa explained.
The main provisions of the draft law:
- expanding the mandate of the Accounting Chamber to control all public finances, including the budgets of united territorial communities, state-owned enterprises and extra-budgetary funds.
- strengthening the financial, political and administrative independence of the Accounting Chamber.
- conducting transparent competitions for the positions of members of the Accounting Chamber with the decisive vote of international experts.
- implementation of formal parliamentary procedures for reviewing reports and monitoring the implementation of recommendations.
- reduction of the number of members of the Accounting Chamber from 13 to 11 people.
- introduction of periodic external assessment of the chamber’s work by independent experts with international audit experience.
“I hope that the Council will support this project this week, as Ukraine has undertaken to vote on the first reading of the draft law by September 30.”, – added Roksolana Pidlasa.
International partners, including the US and the EU, call on Ukraine to amend legislation to strengthen control over state budget spending, in particular by expanding the powers of the Accounting Chamber to audit local self-government bodies, state-owned enterprises, and public procurement.
