Against the backdrop of heightened realization that economic development and the fight against poverty can effectively be enhanced under an environment of good governance, and that fiscal (inclusive of budget) transparency is one of the key instruments for achieving good governance, a sharp focus is now on fiscal transparency. For poorer countries, donors, international financial institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs) are demanding transparency in the budgeting processes of recipient countries, emphasizing their right to know and, to some extent, determine how public and donated funds are collected and spent.
Impassioned calls for fiscal transparency are also increasingly being directed to countries richly endowed with natural resources, encouraging both governments and companies to detail sources of revenues, the exact amounts, how these revenues are spent, and the policies underpinning budget allocations.
The growing international focus on transparency is amply demonstrated by the proliferation in recent years of initiatives aimed at directly and indirectly promoting and enforcing transparency practices. These include the United Nations (UN)’s Convention Against Corruption, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Best Practices for Budget Transparency, the Global Reporting Initiative, and the Global Transparency Initiative. Other initiatives are engaged primarily in transparency in extractive industries and include the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the ‘Publish What You Pay’ NGO coalition (by Save the Children UK), the George Soros’ Open Society Institute, the Global Witness, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), the OECD Project on Revenue Transparency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the IMF Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency. Furthermore, there are also country initiatives and benchmarks such as the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s African Governance Project, the Democracy Index of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa and the Worldwide Governance Indicators Data set of the World Bank.
The transparency specificity hinges on ultimate objectives. Thus, on the one hand, objectives aimed at eliminating corruption, money laundering and fighting the financing of terrorism, such as those of the UN, would tend to be stated in broad language incorporating a number of other issues besides transparency, to achieve the ultimate objective. On the other hand, objectives such as those of IMF, OECD and EITI that are aimed at promoting sound financial management and accountability tend to contain narrower and more specific recommendations or prescriptions. The IMF published a Manual on Fiscal Transparency as a guide to implementing the Code. Non-country initiatives tend to be broadly articulated, allowing countries to generate specific initiatives suited to their own individual circumstances in line with these broad initiatives.
There is concern that a lot more remains to be done by countries on the issue of adopting transparency principles. The recently published Transparency Index from Save the Children UK, a charity organization, shows that transparency is the exception, not the rule. A number of important oil- and gas-producing countries in Africa have yet to make even a gesture towards disclosure. Angola, Chad and Mauritania are among the countries being urged to sign on to one or more initiatives aimed at promoting transparency in extractive industries in particular. State owned companies, which account for the bulk of global oil and gas production, are also under pressure to subject themselves to full disclosure.
Contents
Acronyms
Acknowledgements
Executive.Summary
SECTION.IIntroduction
- 1.1 Context
1.2 Definition
1.3 Rationale for fiscal transparency
1.4 Prerequisites for fiscal transparency
1.5 Measuring fiscal transparency
1.6 Objectives of the study
SECTION.IIFiscal.Transparency:.Some.International.and.Regional.Guidelines
- 2.1 The United Nations and the African Union Conventions
2.2 International financial institutions
2.3 Other region- and sector-specific initiatives
SECTION.IIIFiscal.Transparency.in.Africa:.A.Brief.Survey
- 3.1 Related surveys
3.2 Methodology
3.3 Clarity of roles and responsibility
3.4 Public availability of information
3.5 Open budget preparation, execution and reporting
3.6 Assurances of Integrity
SECTION.IVFindings,.Recommendations.and.Conclusions
- 4.1 General findings
4.2 Specific findings
4.3 Recommendations
Glossary
References
Annex
