Systematic changes needed in public investment in Lithuania, national audit reveals

“Every year, our assessment of public investment planning has been revealing a lack of attention to this process by both policy-making public authorities and institutions, and local governments. Systematic and urgent changes are required in the investment management area in order to ensure an effective and flexible response to environmental changes and economic challenges,” said Auditor General Giedrė Švedienė.

The audit found that a number of public authorities and institutions (Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ministry of Economy, Lithuanian Armed Forces, and Environmental Projects Management Agency) failed to comply with statutory procedures and used LTL 26.7 million (EUR 7.7 million) of state budget funds in 2013 for state capital investments which were not included in the Public Investment Programme 2013-2015. As a result, the Programme Implementation Report does not display all public investment – there is no data on the use of these funds.

A flawed practice of planning public investment projects has been followed in the areas governed by the minister of education and science and the minister of health. New projects that had not been included in the Public Investment Programme have been planned and launched despite the fact that on-going projects have not been completed.

It was also found that the Ministry of Social Security and Labour does not have a long-term strategy for social care institutions and that the investment project selection procedure and criteria approved by the social care institutions do not ensure objective selection of projects, the National Audit Office concluded.

The National Audit Office issued recommendations to the audited entities.