Morocco is among the countries that meet the requirements of fiscal transparency, the US State of Department pointed out in a report released on Friday.
The Department concluded that, of the 141 countries evaluated, the governments of 72 countries met minimum requirements of fiscal transparency in 2021, including Morocco.
Fiscal transparency informs citizens how government and tax revenues are spent and is a critical element of effective public financial management.
“Transparency provides citizens a window into government budgets and those citizens, in turn, hold governments accountable,” the US Department of State underlined.
For this report, the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency include 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.
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.
Fiscal transparency is a critical element of effective public financial management, helps build market confidence, and underpins economic sustainability.
The fiscal transparency determinations may change from year to year due to updating and strengthening minimum requirements of fiscal transparency as required by law, changes in governments’ performance on public financial management, or new information coming to the Department’s attention.
As a result, some governments may fall short of these requirements, despite in some cases maintaining or even improving their overall level of fiscal transparency.
The report includes a description of how certain governments fell short of the minimum requirements. It outlines any significant progress being made to disclose publicly national budget documentation, contracts, and licenses.
The document also provides specific recommendations of short- and long-term steps governments should take to improve fiscal transparency.
Finally, the report outlines the process the Department of State followed in completing the assessments and describes how US foreign assistance resources were used to support fiscal transparency.
While a lack of fiscal transparency can be an enabling factor for corruption, the report does not assess corruption.
A finding that a government “does not meet the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency” does not necessarily mean there is significant corruption in the government.
Similarly, a finding that a government “meets the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency” does not necessarily reflect a low level of corruption, points the State Department.
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