The United States’ Department of State released its Fiscal Transparency Report on Monday mentioning Pakistan for not meeting the minimum requirement of fiscal transparency. The report said the country did not adequately disclose all government-guaranteed debt obligations, including financing to state-owned enterprises for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects.
The US State Department said Pakistan was one of the countries that made no significant progress in meeting the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency.
The key parameters for this report according to US State department are, having key budget documents that are publicly available, substantially complete, and generally reliable. The review includes an assessment of the transparency of processes for awarding government contracts and licenses for natural resource extraction.
Fiscal transparency is a fundamental element of a successful and prosperous country. When governments are transparent in their financial operations and obligations, corruption decreases, economies grow, and citizens prosper. pic.twitter.com/V3EOstH6oS
— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) June 15, 2020
Bangladesh is another country from south Asia to figure in the list that also includes Saudi Arabia, Sudan and China.
During the review period, the government of Pakistan made its executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the general public, including online. The government published limited information on debt obligations, the report said.
“The government did not adequately disclose all government and government-guaranteed debt obligations, including financing to state-owned enterprises for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Projects,” it added.
Annual reviews of the fiscal transparency of governments that receive US assistance help ensure US taxpayer funds are used appropriately and provide opportunities to dialogue with governments on the importance of fiscal transparency, the State department said.
“The budget of the intelligence agencies was not subject to adequate parliamentary or other civilian oversight,” it said, adding that the information in the budget was considered generally reliable and subject to audit by Pakistan’s supreme audit institution.”
While audit reports are made publicly available within a reasonable period of time, the reports did not provide substantive findings, recommendations or narratives on the completeness or correctness of government accounts, the State Department said.
It said Pakistan’s fiscal transparency would be improved by making complete and timely information on government and government-guaranteed debt obligations publicly available, subjecting the intelligence agencies” budgets to parliamentary or other civilian oversight and including substantive findings and recommendations in the supreme audit institution”s audit report on the government”s annual financial statements.
“Two governments, Samoa and Togo, met minimum requirements in 2020 after not meeting minimum requirements in 2019. Sixty-five governments did not meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency. Of these 65, however, 14 governments made significant progress toward meeting the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency,” it said.
The annual fiscal transparency report describes the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency developed, updated, and strengthened by the Department in consultation with other relevant federal agencies. It reviews governments that were originally identified in the 2014 Fiscal Transparency Report and Equatorial Guinea. It assesses those that did not meet the minimum fiscal transparency requirements and indicates whether those governments made significant progress toward meeting the requirements during the review period of January 1 – December 31, 2019.