Government-by-Government Assessments: Niger
During the review period, the government made its executive budget proposal and enacted budget accessible to the public, including online. It did not publish an end-of-year report within a reasonable period. Information on some debt obligations was publicly available but was not available for state-owned enterprises. Budget documents provided an incomplete picture of the government’s expenditures and revenues and insufficient detail on allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises. The government published revised budgets when revenues and expenditures deviated from initial projections in its end-of-year report. The supreme audit institution met international standards of independence. It audited the government’s executed budget and made its audit reports publicly available within a reasonable period. The government specified in law the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses but did not always follow those regulations in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was publicly available.
Niger’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- Making its end-of-year report publicly available within a reasonable period;
- Ensuring the budget provides a substantially full picture by including major sources of revenue and expenditure;
- Detailing allocations to, earnings from, and debt holdings of major state-owned enterprises; and
- Following natural resource extraction laws and regulations in practice.