A/HRC/20/25/Add.1 and cultural rights. In this context, the Special Rapporteur is concerned about the prioritization of public expenditures in Timor-Leste. She notes that even as the State budget has increased in recent years, there has been a gradual decline in the percentage allocated to social services, including health and education services, as well as to agriculture. 20. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the increases in allocation to these areas in the 2012 budget, which occurred immediately following her visit. Nevertheless, while 53 per cent of the $1.67 billion budget is earmarked for physical infrastructure, only 7.1 per cent will be allocated to education, 3.3 per cent to health and about 1.5 per cent to agriculture. 12 Although she recognizes that physical infrastructure is important for ensuring the physical accessibility of social services, the Special Rapporteur calls on the Government to reassess the allocation of its resources, to ensure that social services are sufficiently financed to facilitate the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights for all Timorese in a sustainable manner. 21. The concept of progressive realization recognizes the challenges faced by small, developing countries such as Timor-Leste in meeting their obligations with respect to economic, social and cultural rights. Yet it also requires that core minimum obligations be met by the State to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. The obligation to achieve these minimum essential levels cannot be dispensed with even when resources are limited, or when a country is in the earliest stages of development. 22. Moreover, compliance with the maximum available resources requirement implies an obligation to ensure sufficient resources are generated. The Special Rapporteur received information that the management of the Petroleum Fund has been effected with efficiency and transparency.13 However, some concerns have been raised that the Government is consistently withdrawing more from the Fund than the estimated sustainable income level, and that projections from Government spending plans have Timor-Leste exhausting its petroleum resources by 2024, and the Petroleum Fund even sooner. 14 23. The Special Rapporteur reminds the Government that its fiscal choices will have ramifications for its ability to ensure the realization of economic, social and cultural rights for the population. As the Government is aware, Timor-Leste cannot achieve sustainable and equitable development by relying solely on the revenue from its limited oil and gas resources. Inclusive poverty reduction and the creation of decent work necessitate measures to increase the capacity of the non-petroleum sectors of the economy, particularly agriculture, in order to ensure a diverse revenue stream with long-term stability. The Special Rapporteur also calls on the Government of Timor-Leste to assess whether its corporate taxation rates, among the lowest in the world, should be revised in order to expand the resources available to address poverty and reduce inequality. 24. Development should be a ―bottom up‖ process in which the population can meaningfully and effectively participate in the establishment of national priorities. Consultation alone is not enough; those who are affected by State policies and programmes must have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. To this end, the Special Rapporteur commends the consultation process led by the Prime Minister as part of the formulation of 12 13 14 8 Timor-Leste, Budget Transparency Portal, available from http://budgettransparency.gov.tl/public/ index?&lang=en. See Revenue Watch Institute, ―Timor-Leste: transparency snapshot‖, available from www.revenuewatch.org/countries/asia-pacific/timor-leste/transparency-snapshot. La’o Hamutuk, ―Submission to Committee C: Economy, Finances and Anti-Corruption, National Parliament, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste‖, 21 October 2011. Available from www.laohamutuk.org/econ/OGE12/LHSubComCPNOJE2012En.pdf.