(2021-06) Report on the Draft Budget Settlement Law (RPLR), FY 2021-2022

CSCCA (Cour Supérieure des Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif) • 2021

Summary — This report from the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Disputes (CSCCA) analyzes the Draft Budget Settlement Law (RPLR) for Haiti's 2021-2022 fiscal year. It highlights significant irregularities and non-compliance with legal requirements, including the lack of validation by the Council of Ministers and insufficient supporting financial documents. The CSCCA concludes that the budget execution process lacks transparency and budgetary sincerity.

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Key Findings

The decree establishing budget execution for 2021-2022 was neither signed nor dated and lacked prior validation by the Council of Ministers, violating legal requirements.
Key accompanying documents, such as annual performance reports for budgetary programs and an evaluation of off-balance sheet commitments, were missing.
Financial statements presented lacked comparative data from the previous fiscal year, hindering proper analysis.
Significant budget overruns and unforeseen expenses, including 23.73 billion gourdes for petroleum payments, were observed without sufficient justification.
Discrepancies were found between the general account balances at the close of 2020-2021 and the opening of 2021-2022, and within special Treasury accounts, raising concerns about budgetary sincerity.

Full Description

The Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Disputes (CSCCA) presents its report on Haiti's Draft Budget Settlement Law (RPLR) for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, emphasizing its role in ensuring transparency and accountability in public finance management. The report identifies several critical issues, including the fact that the decree establishing budget execution was neither signed nor dated, and lacked prior adoption by the Council of Ministers as legally required. Furthermore, the CSCCA found significant deficiencies in the accompanying documentation, such as missing annual performance reports for budgetary programs and an evaluation of the state's off-balance sheet commitments. The analysis also points to a lack of comparative data in the financial statements, hindering proper evaluation. The CSCCA noted substantial budget overruns and unforeseen expenditures, particularly 23.73 billion gourdes for petroleum product payments, which were not adequately justified by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Discrepancies were observed between the general account balances from the closing of 2020-2021 and the opening of 2021-2022, as well as within the special Treasury accounts, raising concerns about the integrity of the opening balance. The report concludes that the declared budget surplus of 1.97 billion gourdes is misleading due to unrecorded expenses, such as those from the National Education Fund (FNE), thereby violating the principle of budgetary sincerity.

Topics

Geography

Time Coverage

2021-10-01 — 2022-09-30

Keywords

Budget, Public finance, Fiscal year 2021-2022, Government spending, Public debt, Budgetary sincerity, Financial transparency, Accountability, CSCCA, Haiti, Economic context, Financial management

Entities

Cour Supérieure des Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif (CSCCA), Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances (MEF), Parlement, Gouvernement, Banque de la République d'Haïti (BRH), Bureau de Monétisation des Programmes d'Aide au Développement (BMPAD), Autorité Aéroportuaire Nationale (AAN), Office d'Assurance Véhicules Contre-Tiers (OAVCT), Autorité Portuaire Nationale (APN), Fonds Monétaire International (FMI), Fonds International de Développement Agricole (FIDA), Me Rogavil BOISGUENE, Jovenel Moïse, United Office Integrated Office in Haiti, Centre d'Analyse et de Recherche en Droits de l'Homme (CARDH), Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations (OIM), Preble Rich, Les Moulins d'Haiti

Notes

Series: RPLR (annual). PDF cover page confirms 'exercice fiscal 2021-2022'. Site 'Publié le' shows 2021-06-25, which similarly predates FY-end (Sep 2022) — same data-entry-date caveat as the FY2022-2023 entry above.