By Budget Team

DR Shaheen Sardar Ali was a minister in Pakistan and she was to prepare the budget for her Health Ministry. She had her senior officers gathered around a table and asked them what she thought was a simple question, 'How do we formulate our annual budget; what are the parameters guiding us in this process and who is involved in it?'

There was total silence in the room. With her experience in Government she understood that “when a response was not immediately forthcoming, it meant that there was no plausible answer to provide and the silence was the time in which it was being carefully tailored in the minds of the 'government' before being shared with the minister.”

She repeated the question, “'Who prepares the budget in this department and how is it prepared?” Again silence. She was an academic trained to extract answers from the recalcitrant pupils and bureaucrats could not get away with silence.

After a lot of elbow nudging and fidgeting, one courageous officer cleared his throat and declared:

'Actually Madam there is very little to prepare. All we do is to look at last year's budgetary allocations and add 10 per cent on it. That becomes the next year's budget. It is quite easy Madam so you really don't need to worry. Nearer the time, we will give you a copy to look at'.