FISCAL TRANSPARENCY report
Govt didnt meet lowest requirements: US
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
The Bangladesh government did not meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency in 2015, according to a report released by the United States State Department yesterday. The country has also not made significant progress toward meeting the minimum requirements, said 2016 Fiscal Transparency Report that covered the time from January 1 to December 31, 2015.
The department evaluated 140 governments and out of them 64 including, Bangladesh government, did not meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency. However, of these 64, eight governments made significant progress toward meeting the minimum requirements.
During the review period, Bangladeshs budget and information on debt obligations were widely and easily accessible to the public, including online.
While budget documents provided a broad picture of the governments planned expenditures and revenue streams, they lacked detail. The budget did not identify allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises, or natural resource revenues. Bangladeshs supreme audit institution reviewed the governments annual executed budget but its reports were not publicly available within a reasonable period of time.
The criteria and process for allocating licenses and contracts for natural resource extraction were outlined in law and appeared to be followed in practice.
Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was not consistently publicly available online or in an official gazette, despite details being announced at the time of awards.
Bangladeshs fiscal transparency would be improved by: making budget documents substantially complete with greater detail on natural resource revenues and allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises; making budget audit reports publicly available within a reasonable period of time; and making basic information about natural resource extraction licenses and contracts publicly available.
