Page 10 - Parliament Budget Office Annual Report 2022-2023

STATEMENT OF THE ACCOUNTING OFFICER
I am pleased to present the 2022/23 Annual Report on the activities of the Parliamentary Budget Office, as outlined and amended in the Money Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act of 2009.
The role of the Parliamentary Budget Office is to support MPs with research and analysis in order to inform their oversight. I was appointed by Parliament as the Office Director in December 2020 in accordance with the Money Bills and Related Matters Act of 2009. The Office provide independent economic and fiscal advice to Members of Parliament that enriches and supports informed recommendations in their oversight function as the Executive.
1. Office Service Delivery - Overview
The Parliamentary Budget Office has scaled its research and analysis in the domain of economics, finance and policy support to Parliament within a changing working environment, be that in the virtual or hybrid model. This approach has led to several operational challenges for the Office. In response to the health crisis and declining developmental indicators, we have now settled in our new working environment and continue to make every effort to provide the best possible research and analysis to Parliament and its committees as per the Money Bills Act.
The PBO team has worked tirelessly to meet and exceed the ambitious targets of the Office’s 2022/23 performance targets. Despite our changing working environment, the Office has continued to serve Members of Parliament with integrity and professionalism through the provision of independent, credible and objective financial and economic research & analysis on a timely basis. We have continued to look for better ways to become more efficient and effective in delivering our value proposition, which includes identifying collaborative opportunities with other similar entities.
I continue to view the role of the Director to ensure that the PBO remains a strong and independent voice in the budget process in support of Parliament’s role of fiscal oversight. The goal in particular is to ensure that four fundamental objectives are achieved:
u that all our major research, analysis, reports and briefs for MPs are written and presented in a manner that is both accessible and comprehensible;
Dr. DJ Jantjies
u ensuring a good balance between responding to requests from committees and MPs for research & analysis and other projects initiated within the PBO;
u ensuring that the PBO utilizes a fair, clear, transparent and practical workflow and analysis methodology to guide its work; and
u ensuring that the Office continues to be highly respected, particularly by the MPs and the Executive, while remaining independent and objective.
We have taken these fundamentals as a guide for providing research and analysis in support of Parliament oversight over the Executive through the past financial year. Some of the key research and analysis work include the following as outlined below.
1.1 2023 Budget Analysis
Here the purpose of our budget analysis was to provide the context of government service delivery for sharing the Budget 2023 with members of Parliament within different spheres of government (national, provincial and local).
Parliamentary Budget Office | Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
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