Fiscal transparency informs citizens how government revenues and tax revenues are spent and is a critical element of effective public financial management. Transparency provides citizens a window into government budgets and helps hold governments accountable. It helps build market confidence and sustainability. The Congressionally mandated Fiscal Transparency Report (FTR) is a tool to identify deficiencies and support needed changes. The Office of Monetary Affairs (OMA) of State’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB) prepares the annual FTR in consultation with State’s Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
As directed by Congress, EB/OMA evaluates data on the fiscal transparency collected by our posts in 141 countries (those that could receive U.S. foreign assistance) against minimum requirements and publishes the results on the Department’s website annually. For countries to meet minimum requirements, governments must make key budget documents publicly available within a reasonable period of time. They must be substantially complete and generally reliable. Governments must also follow a transparent process for awarding government contracts for natural resource extraction. In the report released in August 2019, 74 countries met minimum requirements and 67 did not. Additionally, the FTR identified 13 countries that made significant progress towards meeting requirements.
For questions, please contact EB Fiscal Transparency at fiscaltransparency@state.gov.
2019 Fiscal Transparency Report
AUGUST 15, 2019
Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan made significant progress by publishing its executive budget proposal. During the review period, the government made its executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the general public, including online. Information on debt obligations, including contingent and state-owned enterprise debt, was not publicly available. Publicly available budget documents did not provide a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams. Budget documents did not include detailed information on expenditures by ministry or information on allocations to or earnings from state-owned enterprises. Detailed information on natural resource revenues and the government’s off-budget accounts was not publicly available. The budget did not include information on expenditures to support executive offices. It is not possible to assess the reliability of the budget due to the lack of publicly available information. Uzbekistan’s supreme audit institution had a legal mandate to review the government’s annual budget execution, but its reports were not publicly available. The criteria and procedures by which the national government awards natural resource extraction contracts or licenses were not specified in law, regulation, or other public documents, preventing review of whether the government followed applicable laws and regulations in practice. Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was not always publicly available.
Uzbekistan’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:
- making information on debt obligations publicly available,
- including detailed information on expenditures by ministry as well as information on allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises in budget documents,
- ensuring budget documents are reliable,
- producing and publishing audit reports of the government’s executed budget within a reasonable period of time,
- fully outlining the criteria and procedures for allocating natural resource extraction licenses and contracts in law or regulation and following them in practice, and
- making basic information about such awards publicly available.
