Government-by-Government Assessments: Congo, Democratic Republic of
During the review period, the government made significant progress by ensuring the budget provided a substantially full picture by including major sources of revenue and expenditure and by following procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts in practice. The government made its executive budget proposal and enacted budget widely and easily accessible online within a reasonable period. The government did not review its budget throughout the fiscal year, did not make its end-of-year report publicly available, and did not disclose major state-owned enterprise debt information. Actual revenues reasonably corresponded to those in the enacted budget. Budget documents lacked detail on allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises. The government maintained off-budget accounts not subject to adequate oversight or audit. The government broke down expenditures to support executive offices. The military and intelligence budgets were not subject to parliamentary or civilian public oversight. The supreme audit institution met international standards of independence and made its audit report publicly available within a reasonable period. The government specified in law or regulation the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses. Basic information on natural resource extraction contracts was publicly available. The sovereign wealth fund had a sound legal framework but did not fully disclose its source of funding and general approach to withdrawals.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- Making its end-of-year report publicly available within a reasonable period;
- Identifying allocations to, earnings from, and debt holdings of major state-owned enterprises in the budget;
- Reviewing its budget throughout the fiscal year;
- Eliminating off-budget accounts or subjecting them to adequate audit and oversight;
- Ensuring sufficient parliamentary or civilian public oversight of military and intelligence budgets; and
- Ensuring the sovereign wealth fund discloses its source of funding and general approach to withdrawals.