As part of its 2021 Budget Transparency Report, the US Department of State has taken into account 141 countries around the world. 16 African states, seven of which from ECOWAS, meet the minimum tax transparency requirements as defined by Washington.
Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Burkina Faso are among the countries meeting the minimum requirements for budgetary transparency. This is what the US State Department said in its 2021 Budget Transparency Report.
These three countries are the only ones in the WAEMU to be included in the first classification category, including countries that regularly publish reliable and accessible budgets and financial documents. A total of 16 African countries are included in this group, seven of which are members of ECOWAS. In addition to the countries already mentioned, there are Botswana, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tunisia and Uganda.
Today, we released the 2021 Fiscal Transparency Report. We call on all governments to embrace fiscal transparency, as it is a pathway to economic sustainability, a critical accountability tool, and pillar of a thriving society. https://t.co/a1jHTE2g6s
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) June 25, 2021
This classification recalls the efforts made by African States to improve their fiscal transparency in a process of cleaning up their public spending and fighting corruption. To this end, two countries, Nigeria and the Gambia, have made significant progress by joining this year the category of countries that meet the minimum requirements for budgetary transparency.
Outside of this category, two others have been established by Washington DC: the group of countries that have made significant progress and those that have not made significant progress on tax transparency. 12 African countries, including two from WAEMU (Benin, Guinea) are part of the second group and 25 countries are part of the third group.
It is important to remember that although it allows the levels of budget transparency to be ranked according to the accessibility and reliability of public tax documents, this annual report, which includes 141 countries, does not assess corruption.
According to the US State Department, “the finding that a government “does not meet the minimum requirements for tax transparency” does not necessarily mean that there is significant corruption within the government.” “Similarly, the fact that a government “meets the minimum requirements for tax transparency” does not necessarily reflect a low level of corruption.”
Source : Agence Ecofin / By Moutiou Adjibi Nourou
2021 Ranking of African Countries by Level of Fiscal Transparency (US State Department)
Country/ Level of budgetary transparency
South Africa: Satisfactory
Algeria: Significant progress
Angola: Significant progress
Benin: Significant progress
Botswana: Satisfactory
Burkina Faso: Satisfactory
Burundi: Significant progress
Cameroon: No significant progress
Cape Verde: Satisfactory
Central African Republic: No significant progress
Comoros: No significant progress
Congo: No significant progress
DRC: Significant progress
Côte d’Ivoire: Satisfactory
Djibouti: No significant progress
Egypt: No significant progress
Eswatini: No significant progress
Ethiopia: No significant progress
Gabon: Significant progress
Gambia: Satisfactory
Ghana: Satisfactory
Guinea: Significant progress
Guinea–Bissau: No significant progress
Equatorial Guinea: Significant progress
Kenya: Satisfactory
Lesotho: No significant progress
Liberia: No significant progress
Libya: No significant progress
Madagascar: No significant progress
Malawi: No significant progress
Mali: No significant progress
Morocco: Satisfactory
Mauritius: Satisfactory
Mauritania: No significant progress
Mozambique: Significant progress
Namibia: Satisfactory
Niger: No significant progress
Nigeria: Satisfactory
Uganda: Satisfactory
Rwanda: No significant progress
Sao Tome and Principe: Significant progress
Senegal: No significant progress
Seychelles: Satisfactory
Sierra Leone: No significant progress
Somalia: Significant progress
Sudan: Significant progress
South Sudan: No significant progress
Tanzania: No significant progress
Chad: No significant progress
Togo: Satisfactory
Tunisia: Satisfactory
Zambia: No significant progress
Zimbabwe: No significant progress
