Government-by-Government Assessments: Egypt
During the review period, the government made its budget documents widely and easily accessible to the general public, including online. Information on debt obligations was publicly available online, with the exception of state-owned enterprise debt. Budget documents did not include allocations to military state-owned enterprises, nor were audit reports for significant, large state-owned enterprises made public. It was not clear from publicly available budget documents whether expenditures to support executive offices represented a significant outlay. The information in the budget was generally considered reliable, but incomplete. Audit reports from Egypt’s supreme audit institution were not public. Egypt’s supreme audit institution did not meet international standards of independence. The criteria and procedures by which the national government awards natural resource contracts or licenses were specified in law and regulation and appeared to be broadly followed in practice. The government has not consistently made public basic information on natural resource extraction awards. The sovereign wealth fund did not disclose its source of funding or general approach to withdrawals. Egypt’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- making information on state-owned enterprise debt publicly available;
- including in its budget documents all revenues and expenditures, including those for remaining off-budget accounts, executive offices, and allocations to, earnings from, and debts of state-owned enterprises;
- ensuring the supreme audit institution meets international standards of independence, audits the government’s executed budget, and makes its reports publicly available within a reasonable period of time;
- consistently making basic information on natural resource extraction awards publicly available;
- disclosing its sovereign wealth fund’s source of funding and general approach to withdrawals.