Government-by-Government Assessments: Ethiopia
During the review period, the government made its enacted budget available to the general public online. The executive budget proposal, however, was not published, quarterly budget execution reports were not publicly available, and its end-of-year report was not published within a reasonable period of time. Information on debt obligations was publicly available. Budget documents lacked detail on state-owned enterprises, particularly those implementing major infrastructure projects. Not all large state-owned enterprises had publicly available audited financial statements, however total, aggregated state-owned enterprise debt was disclosed. Assessing the reliability of budget information is complicated by the lack of up to date quarterly and end-of-year execution reports. The supreme audit institution meets international standards of independence. It audited the government’s annual financial statements and published its reports 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 law and regulation. The government generally appeared to follow applicable laws and regulations in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was not always publicly available. Ethiopia’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- publishing its executive budget proposal and end-of-year report within a reasonable period of time;
- providing more detail on allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises in the budget;
- making audit reports for significant, large state-owned enterprises publicly available; and
- making basic information about natural resource extraction awards publicly available.