Government-by-Government Assessments: Burundi
During the review period, Burundi made significant progress by publishing its end-of-year budget report within a reasonable period of time. In addition, Burundi made significant progress by providing a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams in its publicly available budget documents, including information on financial allocations to and earnings from major state-owned enterprises. The government also made its enacted budget publicly available online. It did not make an executive budget proposal publicly available. Information on debt obligations was not always current. Information on debt obligations, including contingent and state-owned enterprise debt, was not publicly available, timely, or comprehensive. Natural resource revenues were not included in the budget. Though information in the budget was not always complete, it was considered generally reliable. Burundi’s supreme audit institution did not publish an audit report within a reasonable period of time. The criteria and procedures by which the national government awarded contracts or licenses for natural resource extraction were outlined in law and regulation but inconsistently followed in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available upon request. Burundi’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- publishing an executive budget proposal within a reasonable period of time;
- providing timely and comprehensive information on debt obligations, including contingent and state-owned enterprise debt;
- ensuring adequate audit and oversight for off-budget accounts;
- ensuring the supreme audit institution audits the government’s executed budget and makes audit reports publicly available within a reasonable period of time;
- consistently adhering to applicable laws and regulations for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses; and
- facilitating better access to basic information about natural resource extraction awards.