Government-by-Government Assessments: Djibouti
During the review period, the government published summaries of most budget documents online but did not make all budget documents easily accessible to the public nor did it publish an end-of-year report within a reasonable period of time. Limited information on debt obligations was publicly available online. Public budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams. While financial allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises were included in public budget documents, the figures were outdated. Significant, large state-owned enterprises did not have publicly available audited financial statements. It is unclear whether some ministries maintained significant off-budget accounts not subject to audit. The supreme audit institution published an audit report within a reasonable period of time. The criteria and procedures by which the national government awards contracts or licenses for natural resource extraction were specified in laws and regulations. The government has not yet awarded any natural resource contracts since the laws and regulations were implemented. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available through reporting of state-owned media, but not archived or retrievable in a systematic way. Djibouti’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- publishing a detailed version of its executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report within a reasonable period of time;
- publishing information on debt obligations;
- including allocations to, earnings from, and debt holdings of state-owned enterprises in its budget documents;
- publishing audited financial statements of significant, large state-owned enterprises; and
- eliminating any substantial off-budget accounts or subjecting them to oversight and audit.