Budget Reform in the Republican Government of Turkey
| Author | Gulay Coskun |
| Published date | 01 September 1971 |
| Date | 01 September 1971 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002085237103700302 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Budget
Reform
in
the
Republican
Government
of
Turkey
UDC
336.121.22(56)
(Mrs.)
Dr.
Gulay
COSKUN,
Assistant
Director,
Budget
Department,
Ankara
INTRODUCTION
Activities
of
the
Government
of
Turkey
are
carried
out
today
through
a
much
larger
and
more
complex
organization
than
ever
before.
Thirty-one
general
budget
establishments
and
sixteen
annexed-budget
agencies
requested
T.L.
35.434.301.793
expenditure
budget
for
the
fiscal
year
1970.
About
75
percent
of
the
amount
is
represented
by
the
purchase
of
goods
and
services
and
transfer
payments
to
indivi-
duals
and
other
levels
of
government.
Al-
though
the
operating
expenditure
has
been
increasing
very
fast,
the
State’s
resources are
still
limited.
So,
there
should
be
something
to
do
with
the
distribution
of
these
scarce
resources
in
order
to
get
the
effective
outputs.
The
current
budget
system
in
Turkey
has
many
weaknesses.
In
a
traditional
line-item
budget,
it
is
difficult
to
find
the
objectives,
targets
and
tasks
to
be
performed
for
current
budget
operations
of
the
government.
The
budget
reviews
are
based
upon
a
kind
of
bargaining
between
the
General
Directorate
of
Budget
(GDOB)
and
the
agencies.
Agencies
and
Ministries
do
not
have
to
present
their
programs
to
GDOB,
and
for
this
reason,
maybe,
programming
for
current
operations
is
not
widespread
in
Turkish
administration.
The
investment
budget
which
is
reviewed
by
the
State
Planning
Organization
(SPO)
also
needs
some
improvement
because
of
the
lack
of
efBcient
relationships
among
the
organiza-
tions,
methods
and
personnel
of
the
ministries
and
agencies.
The
economic
planning
system
in
Turkey
was
initiated
in
1962.
This
planning
is
a
global
economic
planning
for
every
five
years.
Government
investment
projects
are
evaluated
by
the
planning
agency
and
capital
budget
proposals
are
studied
and
the
capital
budget
is
executed
by
SPO.
This
Organiza-
tion
even
sets
the
ceilings
for
the
general
government
expenditures
including
current
expenditures
by
the
High
Planning
Council
(including
the
Minister
of
Finance,
the
Under-
secretary
of
SPO
and
four
more
Ministers
related
with
the
economic
and
financial
policy
under
the
President
or
Prime
Minister.)
The
government
investment
projects
which
are
operated
by
SPO
depend
on
a
functional
basis
whereas
the
budget
system
is
based
on
the
traditional,
line-item
system.
Also,
the
evalu-
ation
of
investment
projects
by
SPO
and
the
determination
of
current
expenditures
by
GDOB
prevent
good
coordination
between
these
two
types
of
outlay.
So,
more
efficiency
could
be
gotten
by
the
change
of
budget
system
to
a
functional
basis
and
investment
and
current
expenditure
proposals
should
be
studied
alto-
gether
by
GDOB.
This
procedure
improves
coordination
between
investment
and
current
expenditures
as
well
as
it
increases
the
efficiency
of
budget
reviews.
.
The
execution
of
budget
system
is
based
on
the
expenditures
depending
upon
the
expendi-
ture
codes
and
regulations
and
not
exceeding
appropriation
limits.
The
audit
system
does
not
include
efficiency
surveys,
and
financial
responsibility
in
Turkey
relates
to
violating
the
expenditure
codes
and
regulations
or
exceeding
the
limit
of
appropriations.
The
situation
regarding
personnel
is
not
efficient
either.
The
number
or
quality
of
personnel
does
not
change
according
to
the future tasks
of
agencies.
The
personnel
cadres
of
government
organizations
are
established
by
laws
and
decrees.
It
is
very
difficult
to
make
the
necessary
changes
as
far
as
the
number
and
quality
of
personnel
are
concerned
during
budget
reviews.
There
is
no
flexibility
in
the
personnel
administration.
Management,
accounting,
statistics,
reporting,
workload
standards
and
other
modern
techni-
ques
for
efficient
management
are
not
very
well
understood
in
Turkish
administration.
Owing
to
the
weaknesses
in
Turkish
ad-
ministration
mentioned
above,
some
reformist
movements
should
be
necessary
in
Turkey.
In
the
second
Five
Year
Plan
(under
Item
174
of
the
1969
Annual
Program)
the
ministries
and
annexed
budget
agencies
are
requested
to
cooperate
and
assist
the
new
budget
reform
efforts
launched
by
the
Ministry
of
Finance.
The
GDOB
in
the
Finance
Ministry
has
made
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