PUTRAJAYA: Outcome Based Budgeting (OBB) will be test-bedded in selected ministries in 2012 and will be rolled out across the public sector from 2013 onwards, said Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.
The first five ministries are finance, works and human resources, while the other two would be identified later, he told reporters after opening a seminar on OBB yesterday.
Ahmad Husni, however, said the Finance Ministry had started implementing the OBB much earlier.
“The purpose of OBB is to ensure that we will achieve the concept of value for money for our budget expenditure management. This has been the principle the government will have to adopt,” he said.
Ahmad Husni said value for money basically means “efficient, effective and economic.”
Ahmad Husni said countries like Canada, New Zealand and Singapore have successfully implemented the OBB.
The idea to implement the OBB was mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the 2010 Budget.
Najib had said it was part of Malaysia’s effort to streamline the federal appropriation structure and improve service delivery in the public sector.
Earlier, in his speech, Ahmad Husni said the OBB was a critical instrument in a game-changing strategy to transform the nation in facing challenges ahead.
“It will provide us a structured mechanism that will link and streamline our expenditure, all through the value chain, right from conceptualisation to the end-results obtained at the implementation stage,” he said.
Present were Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah and Public Service Department director-general Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Abdullah. — Benama