Government-by-Government Assessments: Guinea
During the review period, the government made significant progress by publishing its end-of-year budget report within a reasonable period of time. During the review period, the government also published its enacted budget online. However, it did not publish an executive budget proposal within a reasonable period of time. Information on debt obligations was generally publicly available, although debt information for some major state-owned enterprises was not. The enacted budget did not present a complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams and did not include allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises. Significant, large state-owned enterprises lacked publicly available audited financial statements. Budget documents were considered generally reliable. Guinea’s supreme audit institution met international standards of independence but did not publish reports on the government’s executed budget 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 but appeared to be applied inconsistently in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available. Guinea’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- publishing an executive budget proposal within a reasonable period of time;
- including allocations to, earnings from, and debt obligations of state-owned enterprises in budget documents;
- ensuring significant, large state-owned enterprises have publicly available audited financial statements;
- publishing audit reports of the government’s executed budget within a reasonable period of time; and
- applying laws on contracting and licensing for natural resource extraction consistently.