Sri Lanka has 216 state owned enterprises and fiscal transfers to these in 2001 amounted to a whopping US$ 446 million-about 3% of the islands GDP.
Transfers to public corporations totaled US$ 43 million while statutory boards gobbled up US$ 244 million. rn
rnWorld Bank says the problem is that these state enterprises are not held accountable for what they do with the money. rn
rnWorld Bank officials say that this is partly because the Public Accounts Committee COPA and the Public Enterprise Committee COPE dont have resources to be effective.rn
rnldblquote There are 200 departments and 53ministerites spending hundreds of millions of rupees. But only five people are supposed to be in the service of the MPs that are supposed to oversee this. It is clearly inadequate and (the pressure) is building up, dblquote Peter Harrold said.rn
rnWorld Bank says parliamentary procedures, especially standing orders relating to COPA and COPE, are outdated and not in line with international best practices.rn
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