A round-up of public finance news stories from Asia Pacific you might have missed this week (June 10–14).
Pakistan unveils record outlay in budget
Pakistan’s Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar, this week presented his government’s first budget for 2013/14 in the National Assembly with a record outlay of Rs3.5 trillion. It reflected a difficult and ambitious fiscal adjustment of about Rs580bn — 2.5% of gross domestic product — by reducing subsidies and introducing additional revenue and administrative tax measures estimated to fetch Rs400bn. (Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates)
Indonesia's audit standards seen as too low
An analyst has criticised Indonesia's Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) for low standards of transparency and bookkeeping in its audits. (The Jakarta Post)
Macau government surplus tops earlier estimate
The Macau government is making far more money than it planned to make this year, the budget surplus so far having already exceeded the estimate for the whole year. In the first five months of this year the budget surplus was 47.67 billion patacas (US$5.96bn), one-third more than in the equivalent period last year, according to data released by the Financial Services Bureau. (Macau Business Daily)
Chinese auditors warn local government debt could destabilise banking system
The whopping 3.85 trillion yuan (US$624.61bn) debt owed by 36 provincial Chinese governments could destabilise the country's banking sector as they struggled to repay the arrears, China's national auditors have warned. (The Economic Times, India)
New Pakistani PM urges ministries to cut spending by 30%
The Nawaz Sharif administration has promised to prune wasteful spending and scrimp together some badly-needed cash for the exchequer. And it appears the government is doing just that. On Monday, the premier directed his ministers to immediately curtail the expenditures of their respective ministries by up to 30%. (The Express Tribune, Pakistan)
