Government-by-Government Assessments: El Salvador
During the review period, the government published its enacted budget and end-of-year report online within a reasonable period, although it did not publish its executive budget proposal within a reasonable period. Information on debt obligations, including for state-owned enterprises, was widely and easily accessible to the public, including online. The budget broke down expenditures by ministry or government agency. Budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s revenues and expenditures. Publicly available budget documents included allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises. The government broke down expenditures to support executive offices. The government produced and publicly issued revised budget estimates when actual revenues and expenditures did not reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget. The government maintained off-budget accounts that were not audited. The supreme audit institution did not meet international standards of independence. It did not publish timely audit reports that covered the entire annual executed budget.
El Salvador’s fiscal transparency would be enhanced by:
- Making its executive budget proposal publicly available within a reasonable period;
- Eliminating off-budget accounts or subjecting them to adequate oversight and audit;
- Ensuring the supreme audit institution meets international standards of independence and publishes audits that cover the entire annual executed budget.