Turkey Spending Disclosure Change Triggers Coverup Claims
Turkey Spending Disclosure Change Triggers Coverup Claims
(Bloomberg) -- A proposed legal change to how Turkey discloses its budgetary spending has sparked controversy, with opposition parties accusing the government of an attempt to conceal some outlays, especially on massive construction projects.
The bill prepared by the ruling Justice & Development Party and approved Wednesday by a parliamentary commission calls for a less detailed breakdown of government spending, removing the so-called “functional” classification from some budget documents.
Bulent Kusoglu, a lawmaker with the CHP opposition party, is among those expressing concern. “Functional classification allows visibility on specific spending about, say, health-care or education,” he told the commission.
Changing a system in place since 2006 would also make it impossible for parliament to monitor public-private partnership projects, Kusoglu added.
Durmus Yilmaz, a lawmaker for the Iyi Parti and a former governor of the central bank, said the change amounted to an attack on transparency.
The opposition claims were rejected by Ibrahim Senel, vice chairman of the Presidency’s strategy and budget office.
Parliament would be able to monitor the data as usual, Senel told the commission, though he didn’t explain why the change is being made. “There would be no loss of any information, data or statistics,” he said.
Guaranteed income for builders and Treasury warranties for bank loans to public-private partnerships are a frequent source of opposition criticism.
Official data show the scale of such partnership investments in Turkey, with $22.7 billion in planned spending on highways and bridges, $19.1 billion on airports, $18.3 billion on energy and $11.6 billion on health-care. Treasury loan guarantees for just seven projects totaled $17.2 billion.
Parliament debate on the 2021 budget is expected to start on Oct. 17. The “New Economic Program” announced on Sept. 29 foresees a budget deficit of 4.3% of gross domestic product for next year.
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