U.S. State Department confirms Azerbaijan’s progress in fiscal transparency
By Nigar Abbasova
Azerbaijan has managed to advance and make a significant progress in the sphere of fiscal transparency, according to the report of the U.S. Department of State released on July 28, 2016.
“Azerbaijan made significant progress during the review period by publishing more detail on planned expenditures, including allocations to state-owned enterprises, in opinion reports prepared by the Chamber of Accounts,” reads the 2016 Fiscal Transparency Report.
“During the review period, budget documents were publicly available and provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s revenues, including natural resource revenues.”
The report further added that all significant state-owned enterprises had audited accounts publicly available online, while information in budget documents was generally reliable. The supreme audit institution audited a portion of the government’s annual executed budget and its reports were publicly available within a reasonable period of time.
“Azerbaijan’s fiscal transparency would be improved by: ensuring the supreme audit institution has a plan for auditing all government ministries and agencies over a specific period of time; and fully specifying in law or regulation the process for awarding natural resource extraction contracts or licenses and following that process in practice,” according to the report.
Financial Transparency report, which is released on an annual basis, contains the information about the minimum requirements of fiscal transparency, which were developed, updated and strengthened by the U.S. Department in consultation with other relevant federal agencies. Minimal requirements of the financial transparency include availability of key budgetary documents. The review includes an assessment of the transparency of processes for awarding government contracts and licenses for natural resource extraction.
The fiscal transparency is considered to be a critical element of effective public financial management, helps in building market confidence, and underpins economic sustainability.
It also fosters greater government accountability by providing a window into government budgets for citizens, helping them to hold their leadership accountable, and facilitating better-informed public debates.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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