Government-by-Government Assessments: Benin
During the review period, the government made its executive budget proposal and enacted budget publicly available, including online, but the end-of-year report was not published. Budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s revenues and expenditures. Information on debt obligations, including for state-owned enterprises, was publicly available. However, budget documents did not detail allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises. The government subjected all accounts to audit or oversight and broke down expenditures to support executive offices. The military and intelligence budgets were subject to civilian public oversight. The government reviewed its budget throughout the fiscal year. Actual revenues and expenditures reasonably corresponded to those in the enacted budget and budget documents were comparable year-to-year. Budget documents were prepared according to internationally accepted principles. The supreme audit institution met international standards of independence, audited the executed annual budget, published substantive findings, and made the results available online.
Benin’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- Publishing timely end-of-year reports; and
- Detailing in the budget allocations to and earnings from major state-owned enterprises.