Government-by-Government Assessments: Central African Republic
During the review period, the government made its enacted budget and quarterly reports publicly available online. It did not publish an executive budget proposal or an end-of-year report within a reasonable period. Information on state-owned enterprise debt was not publicly available. Publicly available budget documents provided a reasonably complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams, except allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises. The supreme audit institution did not audit the government’s executed budget and was not authorized to publish reports. The government specified in law the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses. However, the government exercised limited control over natural resource extraction and did not consistently follow laws and procedures in practice.
The Central African Republic’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- Publishing an executive budget proposal and an end-of-year report within a reasonable period;
- Publishing complete debt information, including for state-owned enterprises;
- Providing more detail on allocations to, earnings from, and debt holdings of state-owned enterprises in budget documents;
- Having the supreme audit institution audit the government’s executed budget and publish its audit reports within a reasonable period;
- Consistently following laws for awarding natural resource extraction contracts in practice; and
- Ensuring information on natural resource awards are accurate and publicly available.