Budget Transparency (MO0011)

Promoting budget transparency by publishing budget reports in line with international standards
From August 2018 to August 2020
Lead implementing agency/actor
Ministry of Economy and Finance
Commitment description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
Over the past years, Morocco has made great efforts to promote budget transparency, especially with the enactment of the new Organic Law related to the Finance Bill, thus improving, in particular, its Open Budget index, and scoring 45/100 during the last survey conducted in 2017. Nevertheless, work still needs to be done, including the production and publication of three reports that Morocco has yet to produce, according to the last open budget survey, on the one hand, and the enrichment of contents of reports that Morocco does publish with a greater involvement of civil society, on the other
What is the commitment?
Application of IBP standards on budget reports and their publication timeframes Involvement of civil society in the production of the Citizen Budget
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
By working on the production and publication of the eight reports required by the IBP (including the Citizen Budget) according to the predefined criteria, the Ministry of Economy and Finance will: Improve the quality and pertinence of information provided to the public and, consequently, create greater budget transparency Involve civil society in drafting a better-targeted citizen budget that responds more to citizen expectations in terms of information
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
The publication and production of the eight budget documents according to international standards will: Provide the public with access to more exhaustive, higher quality information
Enable civil society to interact better with the content of the Citizen Budget, and to work with the ministry on the constant improvement of this document to meet citizens’ expectations.
Additional information
The commitment is fully consistent with the government programme to strengthen the values of integrity, public service reform, and the anchoring of good governance, especially with the goals set by the Ministry of Economy and Finance through the Budget Transparency Committee
Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable
Producing a preliminary budget report according to international standards for the 2019 draft law of finance
July 2018 September 2018
Producing a preliminary budget report according to international standards for the 2020 draft law of finance
July 2019 September 2019
Extending the concept of the Citizen Budget to other phases of the budget cycle by developing a Citizen Budget in relation to the Budget Review law for the year 2016.
January 2019 March 2019
Extending the concept of the Citizen Budget to other phases of the budget cycle by developing a Citizen Budget in relation to the Budget Review Law for the year 2017
January 2020 March 2020
Hold consultations with civil society on the form and content of the Citizen Budge
May 2019 June 2019
Contact point details
Contact point name (project manager)
Ms Hajar CHERKAOUI
Position/ department
Head of Citizen Budget Unit, Ministry of Economy and Finance
Email and telephone
cherkaouihajar@db.finances.gov.ma /+212610050908
Other actors involved
All ministerial departments
Members of civil society working in the field of transparency of public finance.

Commitment 11: Promote Budget Transparency by Publishing Budget Reports

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“Over the past years, Morocco has made great efforts to promote budget transparency, especially with the enactment of the new Organic Law related to the Finance Bill, thus improving, in particular, its Open Budget index, and scoring 45/100 during the last survey conducted in 2017. Nevertheless, work still needs to be done, including the production and publication of three reports that Morocco has yet to produce, according to the last open budget survey, on the one hand, and the enrichment of contents of reports that Morocco does publish with a greater involvement of civil society, on the other.

• Application of IBP standards on budget reports and their publication timeframes
• Involvement of civil society in the production of the Citizen Budget
• By working on the production and publication of the eight reports required by the IBP (including the Citizen Budget) according to the predefined criteria, the Ministry of Economy and Finance will:
  • Improve the quality and pertinence of information provided to the public and, consequently, create greater budget transparency
  • Involve civil society in drafting a better-targeted citizen budget that responds more to citizen expectations in terms of information

The publication and production of the eight budget documents according to international standards will:

• Provide the public with access to more exhaustive, higher quality information
• Enable civil society to interact better with the content of the Citizen Budget, and to work with the ministry on the constant improvement of this document to meet citizens’ expectations.

Milestones:

• Producing a preliminary budget report according to international standards for the 2019 draft law of finance
• producing a preliminary budget report according to international standards for the 2020 draft law of finance
• Extending the concept of the Citizen Budget to other phases of the budget cycle by developing a Citizen Budget in relation to the Budget Review law for the year 2016,
• Extending the concept of the Citizen Budget to other phases of the budget cycle by developing a Citizen Budget in relation to the Budget Review Law for the year 2017
• Hold consultations with civil society on the form and content of the Citizen Budget.”

Start Date: August 2018

End Date: August 2020

Editorial Note: the commitment description provided above is an abridged version of the commitment text, please see the full action plan here: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/morocco-action-plan-2018-2020/

Context and objectives

This commitment aims to strengthen civic participation in the budget process and transparency through the publication of key budget documents. The milestones seek to implement transparency and participation requirements established in the 2015 Finance Law and increase Morocco's ranking in the Open Budget Index.

Morocco passed the Finance Law (organic Law 130.13) in June 2015. The law set new standards for budget formation and transparency. The law has been implemented over a five-year period, beginning in 2016. Morocco also published its first Citizens Budget in 2017, which outlines a simplified version of expenditure and revenue. The Ministry of Economy and Finance formed a Committee on Budget Transparency in 2018 with representatives from various departments to expand the content published in key budget documents. ^[104] As a result of these various efforts, Morocco's Open Budget score for budget transparency increased from 19/100 in 2006 to 45/100 or "limited" in 2017. However, Morocco failed to publish pre-budget statement, the mid-year review and the year-end report in 2017. Additionally, Morocco provides limited to no opportunities for civic participation in budget formation or monitoring processes, receiving a score of 0/100 in 2017 for public participation from the Index. ^[105]

Dr. Azzedine Akesbi notes that there is currently no opportunity for civil society to participate in budget formation. ^[106] Ismail Allouki from Sim Sim adds that civil society was unable to participate in the formation of the Finance Law. ^[107] Hajar Cherkaoui, Head of Citizen Budget Unit, Ministry of Economy and Finance and government point of contact for this commitment, states that she is only aware of a civil society consultation that took place in 2012 with none reoccurring since. ^[108] Several civil society members also note that recent citizens budgets have contained limited information. The Citizen Budget does not contain information on taxes by sector or explanations for changes in the budget, for example. They also mentioned a lack of transparency and participation mechanisms at local and municipal levels. ^[109] Basma Mellouk of the Budget Department, Government of Morocco notes that territorial collectives are governed by different regulation than the national budget. For this reason, local and municipal information is not reflected in the Citizens Budget. [110]

Omar El Hyani, local elected official, adds that the budgets of state-owned enterprise budgets are opaque, as are the decision-making processes. ^[111] Abderrahim Foukahi, member of the Steering Committee and Right to Access Information Commission, comments that the Citizen Budget is not widely circulated to schools and therefore, students do not know they have the right to access that information or participate in it. ^[112] However, Hajar Cherkaoui adds that the Citizen Budget is shared at the university level and publicized through social media. [113]

If implemented as written, this commitment is expected to have a minor impact on budget transparency and citizen participation in the budget process. Timely and comprehensive publication of the key eight budget documents will increase Moroccans' access to budget information. Additionally, consulting civil society on the contents of the Citizens Budget will ensure the document better serves the public’s information needs. This commitment is considered to have limited ambition as it is not a significant departure from the status quo. Two more key budget documents will be published as a result. Additionally, the consultation with civil society is described as a one-off activity rather than a permanent change to standard practice. An example of a more ambitious open government reform would include introducing opportunities for civil society and the public to participate in the budget formation or monitoring processes. This could include regional town halls to collect the input of citizens and consultations with civil society on specific provisions of the budget. This commitment is considered to be verifiable and relevant to the OGP values of transparency and civic participation.

Next steps:

The IRM recommends that implementors take the following under consideration:

• Publish the Citizens Budget in multiple languages and audio and visual formats to ensure accessibility to all Moroccans;
• Encourage municipalities and local governments to adopt citizen budgets to improve transparency at the subnational level;
• Partner with civil society to make public consultation in the budget formation and monitoring process standard practice, and particularly seek to include marginalized communities;
• Enable the public and civil society to testify at parliamentary hearings on the proposed budget and audit report;
• Establish mechanisms for civil society or the public to assist the supreme audit institution in designing its audit program and conducting investigations. [114]

11. Promote Budget Transparency by Publishing Budget Reports

Substantial:

This commitment aimed to strengthen transparency and civic participation in the budget process through the publication of key budget documents. [123] The Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Administrative Reform implemented it substantially by publishing preliminary budget reports under the International Budget Partnership standards for 2019 [124] and for 2021, [125] as well as citizen budgets in relation to the Budget Review Laws for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. [126] The Ministry did not publish the preliminary budget report for 2020 due to technical reasons. [127] The Ministry also organized a one-off consultation with civil society on the content and form of the citizens' budget in mid-2019. [128]

According to the Open Budget Survey 2019, the government’s efforts had already led to an improvement in Morocco’s “budget oversight” since the 2017 survey. However, Morocco’s budget transparency score stayed around the world average. Additionally, Morocco’s level of public participation in budget processes remained very low at 6/100. [129] Ahmed Bernoussi, Secretary General of Transparency Morocco, [130] noted that the government subsequently put a lot of effort into adopting Open Budget standards, however, some documents, such as the mid-year report, still have yet to be published. Bernoussi thinks that a crucial improvement in terms of citizen participation would be the timely publication of preliminary budget reports, which would allow for an informed public consultation and debate before the Finance Bill reaches Parliament. [131]