The PFMCBP is funded by the World Bank through its International Development Association with support from donors.

Consultants are recruited by the finance ministry but it is the World Bank, along with donors such as Australia and New Zealand, that forks out the money to the foreign experts.

An international adviser employed as part of the PFMCBP said the publication of the contracts had 'put a lot of strain to our already heavy and difficult workload.

' Finance Minister Emilia Pires has deflected the opposition's barbs on the grounds that the government is not liable for the advisers' salaries.

'All the foreign advisers plus some local advisers within my ministry are actually funded by the foreigners' money,' she said last month, referring to the World Bank and donors.

'Sometimes we do not explain enough about what we are doing, but that is because we are just too busy trying to get the results and improve the lives of our people.'

The World Bank's Moriarty said the consultants had 'achieved significant results which have been of widespread benefit to the Timorese people'.

'Budget execution increased from US$76 million in 2005-06 to US$550 million in 2008,' Moriarty said.

'This spending, along with increased outlays on infrastructure and goods and services, delivered an estimated 12 per cent rate of economic growth. These results can be directly attributed to work by PFMCBP consultants.' -- AFP