Government-by-Government Assessments: Madagascar

During the review period, the government made its enacted budget widely and easily accessible to the public, including online, but it did not publish its executive budget proposal or end-of-year report within a reasonable period.  Information on debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt, was not published in a reasonable period.  The budget broke down expenditures by ministry but not by agency.  Budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of the government’s revenues and expenditures.  Budget documents contained gaps and omitted details on natural resource revenues and allocations to and from state-owned enterprises.  The government broke down expenditures to support executive offices, but military and intelligence budgets were not subject to parliamentary or civilian public oversight.  The budget did not accurately categorize expenditures by ministry or government agency, and the government maintained significant off-budget accounts not subject to public oversight.  The government issued a revised budget to account for significant discrepancies between the enacted budget and actual revenues and expenditures.  The supreme audit institution did not meet international standards of independence and did not audit the entire executed budget within a reasonable period; however, it did uncover mismanagement of COVID-19 relief funds.  The delayed audit of the 2019 budget was published during the review period, and it contained substantive findings.  The government did not formally award any natural resource extraction licenses or contracts during the reporting period but specified in law or regulation procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts.  Despite the formal suspension of mining permits since 2009, some companies obtained licenses via a loophole in the law allowing the sale of existing permits, and basic information on these awards was not publicly available.

Madagascar’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:

• Publishing an executive budget proposal and end-of-year-report within a reasonable period;
• Publishing debt obligations within a reasonable period, including for major state-owned enterprises;
• Making budget expenditures by agency available;
• Detailing in budget documents allocations to and earnings from major state-owned enterprises;
• Ensuring actual revenues and expenditures reasonably correspond to those in the enacted budget;
• Subjecting off-budget accounts to public oversight;
• Ensuring the supreme audit institution meets international standards of independence, audits the entire annual executed budget, and publishes its reports within a reasonable period;
• Ensuring procedures for awarding natural resource extraction practices are followed in practice; and
• Making basic information on natural resource extraction contracts publicly available.