The US Embassy in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) and the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO), is supporting the Sri Lankan Parliament in building independent capacity to analyse government spending, economic policy and proposed legislation, NewsFirst reported.
A week-long technical exchange runs from June 8 to 12 in Colombo, with HDP Program Manager Meagan Moore and CBO experts Megan Carroll and Christi Hawley Anthony engaging nearly 100 Members of Parliament and parliamentary staff. The sessions are focused on the design and institutional framework of a proposed Sri Lanka Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), with the Committee on Public Finance as the lead counterpart.
The week’s working sessions are intended to understand legislators’ information needs and develop a long-term roadmap to strengthen institutional capacity within Parliament. CBO experts are sharing tools and insights drawn from decades of supporting US lawmakers, with a focus on independent, non-partisan fiscal analysis for budget oversight and public expenditure monitoring.
The US Embassy also announced plans to sponsor a delegation of Sri Lankan MPs for a study visit to the United States in September to deepen the engagement, NewsFirst reported.
A Sri Lanka PBO would be the first dedicated, non-partisan in-house fiscal analysis unit in Parliament. Existing oversight bodies — including the Committee on Public Accounts and Public Enterprises — depend heavily on Treasury, CBSL and Auditor General submissions for inputs on government spending. The PBO concept has been canvassed in successive IMF programme conditions, where independent fiscal scrutiny is treated as a complement to revenue and expenditure reform. The IMF’s own most recent staff messaging has tied progress to cost-reflective fuel and electricity pricing and broader PFM measures.
No timeline has been published for legislation establishing the PBO or for staffing decisions. The US Embassy and Parliament have not disclosed indicative budget figures for the unit.
In a separate statement carried by Newswire on June 12, the US Embassy framed the engagement as part of broader US efforts to “promote stable, transparent, and prosperous partners across the Indo-Pacific,” tying parliamentary fiscal oversight capacity directly to conditions for trade and investment.
Sources: NewsFirst — Sri Lanka to Explore Parliamentary Budget Office with US Backing; Newswire — US experts assist Sri Lanka in developing Parliamentary Budget Office.
