Democratic Republic of Congo : Public Expenditure Review
This public expenditure review (PER) is an important exercise for Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), because the new government is under a tremendous pressure from the population to show that it can provide a better life. The perception and anecdo...
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| Language: | English |
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Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/03/9612673/democratic-republic-congo-public-expenditure-review http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8117 |
| Summary: | This public expenditure review (PER) is
an important exercise for Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), because the new government is under a tremendous
pressure from the population to show that it can provide a
better life. The perception and anecdotal evidence that the
wealth in DRC is not shared equitably among the population
was a leading cause of the recent war on the DRC territory.
A lack of action by the government to demonstrate its
commitment to move in the right direction can translate into
a renewed armed conflict. Without such a demonstration of
commitment, international development partners are wary of
granting aid to the country, which implies stagnating
investment activities, and possible debt crises. The PER
strongly advocates to break the cycle of apathy among line
ministries of presenting an unrealistic wish-list of a
budget proposal, receiving a budget allocation that has
little to do with the proposal, enduring an erratic
execution of even the diminished allocation, and not
reporting back to the financial ministries of how exactly
the public funds were used. Their experience of passing
decades not receiving meaningful allocations of resources is
an understandable reason for such apathy, but it is not an
excuse. It is each line ministry's responsibility to
present a credible budget based on its sector strategy, and
report how the funds were used, so that the intended
recipients of public goods and services are served.
Development partners can assist where skills were lost
during the long neglect. Finally, it is useful to take stock
of the progress in the area of public financial management
made under the transitional government, and for all the
stakeholders to agree on (or at least discuss) the way
forward. A functional public financial management system is
a fundamental and important asset for any government, and
particularly those hoping to attract foreign resources.
Indeed, it is recommended that this exercise be undertaken
periodically, every two years or so. |
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