‘The PBO is unable to conduct an assessment of the fiscal risk and long-term sustainability of Budget 2012 savings measures’

As I reported last week, the office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer has again been stymied in its request for information about the Harper government’s budget cuts. Today, the PBO released a report on the information it has received.

Federal organizations provided the PBO with 73 per cent of the savings measures proposed in Budget 2012. However, few provided information regarding cash inflows, outflows or performance indicators and targets, as requested by the PBO in April 2013.

While interim summary statistics are provided in the preceding analysis, the PBO is unable to conduct an assessment of the fiscal risk and long-term sustainability of Budget 2012 savings measures. If these data become available, the PBO is willing and able to complete this work.

Given that preliminary findings seem to suggest that the government plans to spend less and achieve a similar level of output (i.e. less money, similar results), parliamentarians may wish to solicit further details regarding how this will be accomplished.