Government-by-Government Assessments: Chad
During the review period, the government published its enacted budget within a reasonable period of time but not its executive budget proposal. The government also produced within a reasonable period of time an end-of-year report, although it lacked detail on ministry-level spending. The government sought to improve budget transparency by upgrading its citizens’ budget and online budget portal and by livestreaming parliamentary discussions of the budget. Budget documents did not include all revenues and expenditures. Detailed information on debt obligations was publicly available, with the exception of debt information for the country’s only major state-owned enterprise, Société des Hydrocarbures du Tchad (SHT). SHT also did not have publicly available audited financial statements. The government maintained some off-budget accounts not subject to audit or oversight. The supreme audit institution did not meet international standards of independence or produce public reports. The criteria and procedures by which the national government awards contracts or licenses for natural resource extraction were specified in law and regulation, but the government did not always appear to follow applicable laws and regulations in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available. Chad’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- publishing online an executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report within a reasonable period of time;
- including all revenues and expenditures in the budget;
- eliminating off-budget accounts or subjecting them to audit and oversight;
- publishing audited financial statements and disclosing debt holdings for significant, large state-owned enterprises;
- ensuring the supreme audit institution meets international standards of independence;
- making supreme audit institution reports publicly available; and
- adhering to the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses as set out in applicable laws and regulations.