Government-by-Government Assessments: Democratic Republic of the Congo
During the review period, the government made significant progress by producing and publicly issuing a revised budget when budget execution deviated significantly from budget projections. During the review period, the government made its executive budget proposal and enacted budget widely and easily accessible to the general public online, but not in a timely manner. The government did not make its end-of-year report publicly available. Information on debt obligations was publicly available, with the exception of major state-owned enterprise debt information. Budget documents lacked detail on allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises, which did not have publicly audited financial statements. The government maintained special accounts not subject to adequate oversight or audit. There were concerns about the reliability of information regarding expenditures to support executive offices. Civilian oversight over military and intelligence budgets appeared lacking. Budget execution varied considerably from the enacted budget, although the government publicly issued a revised budget. The supreme audit institution made its audit report publicly available within a reasonable period of time. The process for awarding contracts or licenses for natural resource extraction was specified in law and appeared to be followed in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction contracts was publicly available. The country’s sovereign wealth fund is independently audited but does not fully disclose its source of funding and general approach to withdrawals. Democratic Republic of the Congo’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- publishing its end-of-year report within a reasonable period of time;
- specifically identifying allocations to earnings from, and debt holdings of, state-owned enterprises in the budget and making audited financial statements publicly available for significant, large state-owned enterprises;
- making public more detail on audits of the government’s special accounts;
- ensuring greater oversight of military and intelligence budgets;
- improving the overall reliability of budget information, specifically for expenditures to support executive offices; and
- ensuring the sovereign wealth fund discloses its source of funding and general approach to withdrawals.