Assessment of the budget estimates within the framework of PFMCL numbered 5018

Today, governments are expected to be transparent and accountable in their spending. As a requirement of these principles, all processes from the budget call to the final account are shared with the public and the documents are published. However, as modern states have become actors to be watched carefully by the markets due to the size they have reached in the economy there arises the need for foreseeability beside accountability and transparency. Moreover, with this attitude of states, the Medium Term Program and the Medium Term Fiscal Plan, which are the documents that show planned future expenditures and their path, are considered as a guide for the private sector. In this study, the timing of the publications of budget calls; the harmony among the Medium Term Financial Plan, the Medium Term Program and the Budget Law; and finally, the appropriateness of the consumer goods purchases are analyzed with reference to the budgets of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. The analysis is based on the budget figures of institutions, which are classified as the General Budget Administrations and subject to the No. 1 list of the Law No. 5018. According to our analyses, although the budget ceilings in the Medium Term Fiscal Plan and the Budget Law are found consistent, particularly, with the year 2010 and onwards, the budget call is found to be published not in time. Moreover, the Medium Term Fiscal Plan envisages higher increases than allowed in the program and the purchases of consumables are found made without considering the stocks.