Government-by-Government Assessments: The Bahamas
During the review period, the government made its executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the general public, including online. Information on debt obligations was publicly available. Budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams. Information in budget documents was generally considered reliable. However, the supreme audit institution, which meets international standards of independence, did not publish an audit report of the government’s executed budget within a reasonable period of time. The criteria and procedures by which the national government awards contracts or licenses for natural resource extraction were outlined in law and appeared to be followed in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was public. The Bahamas’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- ensuring the supreme audit institution audits the government’s executed budget; and
- making audit reports publicly available within a reasonable period of time.