The Gambia 2024

Notes:

Notes:
Aggregate budget deviation was 48.9% in FY2019, 59.8% in FY2020; and 63.2% in FY2021.

Notes:

Notes:
Functional expenditure variance was higher than 15 percent in each of the last three completed years, i.e., 75.5% in FY2019, 65.5% in FY2020, and 43.4% in FY2021.

Notes:
Expenditure composition variance by economic classification was higher than 15 percent in each of the last three completed years, i.e., 67.8% in FY2019, 17.6% in FY2020, and 17.8% in FY2021.

Notes:
Actual expenditure charged to contingency during the period averaged 2.2%.

Notes:

Notes:
Aggregate revenue outturn was 58.9 percent in FY2019, 86.5 percent in FY2020, and 45.5 percent in FY2021 .

Notes:
Revenue composition variance did not meet the requirement for a C score, which is that “revenue composition was less than 15% in two of the last three years”. The D composition variance was 69.3 percent in FY2019, 49.9 percent in FY2020, and 94.1 percent in FY 2021.

Notes:

Notes:
Annual budget formulation uses a GFS 2014 compliant classification system integrated into the CoA at the administrative and economic categories; the functional and program elements have limited application. However, budget formulation and reporting are not consistent, which makes expenditure tracking difficult; the former groups expenditure according to recurrent and development, while the latter reports on recurrent and capital (not development) expenditure.

Notes:

Notes:
The evidence meets the requirements the four (4) basic elements (Forecast of the fiscal deficit or surplus or accrual operating result; Previous year’s budget outturn, presented in the same format as the budget proposal; Current fiscal year’s budget presented in the same format as the budget proposal; and Aggregated budget data for both revenue and expenditure) and two (2) additional elements , i.e., Deficit financing, describing its anticipated composition; and Explanation of budget implications of new policy initiatives and major new public investments, with estimates of the budgetary impact of all major revenue policy changes and/or changes to expenditure programs”.

Notes:

Notes:
Expenditure on externally financed projects not reported in the FY2022 consolidated financial reports is more than 45 percent of total BCG expenditure. Data to calculate the percentage of expenditures of other budgetary and extrabudgetary units not reported in the financial statements is not available.

Notes:
Expenditures on externally sourced finance not reported in the FY2021 consolidated financial statements is more than 37 percent of total BCG expenditure. Data to calculate the percentage of other revenues of budgetary and extrabudgetary units not reported in the financial statements is not available.

Notes:
Annual financial statements of all extrabudgetary units are in arrears of preparation and, thus, do not meet the requirements for a higher score.

Notes:

Notes:
Insufficient evidence to score this dimension – data on actual distribution of 2021 CG general grant (subvention) to LGs and 2021 LGs’ car park fees collected by the GRA is not available.

Notes:
Local government councils do not receive information on annual transfers until the National Assembly has approved the budget estimates and the appropriation bill and the president accented to it, which happens around mid-December, i.e., about two weeks to the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Notes:

Notes:
The government does not publish annual information on planned activities under the policies or programs of ministries; neither has it put in place a framework of performance indicators relating to their outputs or outcomes.

Notes:
The government does not generate or publish information annually on the activities performed by ministries.

Notes:
There is no evidence of the collection, recording, and reporting of information on resources received by service delivery units, and no survey has taken place in the last three years to provide estimates for, at least, one large ministry.

Notes:
The National Audit Office has undertaken performance audit of some service deliveries in the last three years; however, the audited services amounted to less than 50 percent of the aggregate expenditures.

Notes:

Notes:
The evidence meets the requirements for one basic element “Annual budget execution report”) and one (1) additional element, i.e., “Other external audit reports”.

Notes:

Notes:
All 13 SOEs ’ financial statements are, at least, one year (FY2021) in arrears of preparation and audit.

Notes:
All the eight local governments are in, at least, two years arrears of audited annual financial reporting; none of the LGs publishes its draft or unaudited financial statements.

Notes:
The government did not systematically record and report on its explicit significant contingent liabilities emanating from its own programs and projects and those of its extrabudgetary units in the last completed fiscal year, FY2021

Notes:

Notes:
National or centralized guidelines for project appraisals are not currently in place, as there are also no mechanisms for independent third-party review of projects’ economic analyses, MoFEA’s evaluation of projects’ affordability and FACL potential, or publication of the results of the analysis. External donors fund most of the 8 identified major public-investment projects, and they use their own project appraisal techniques with no centralized oversight.

Notes:
The admittance of major projects into the budget does not follow a process of prioritization by a central government agency, neither are the bases of prioritization, defined standard criteria for project selection, published or unpublished.

Notes:
The budget includes the total capital cost projections for major investment projects for the budget year; however, they do not also include projections of the total (life cycle) costs of the project or their medium-term breakdown, which is the minimum requirement for a higher score.

Notes:
Implementing entities do not prepare annual progress reports on the total cost and physical progress of major investment projects.

Notes:

Notes:
The government does not maintain systematic records of its holdings in financial assets.

Notes:
The government does not currently maintain a comprehensive register of fixed assets’ holdings, including information on historical cost, age, usage, expected life, etc. Some departments keep fixed asset registers on Excel spreadsheets, but do not include updated information on historical cost, age, usage, expected life, etc.

Notes:
The GPPA Act 2014 established procedures and rules for the transfer or disposal of nonfinancial assets in ss. 58 – 63. The approved budget and draft yearend financial report for the year do not include information on assets disposal in the last completed FY, 2021, although there appears to have been assets’ disposal during the year; in FYs 2018 and 2019, the audited yearend financial report included such information.

Notes:

Notes:
Debt reporting covers domestic and foreign debt, but excludes guaranteed debt, which is the minimum requirement for a higher score.

Notes:
There are no documented policies and procedures issued by a single authority. providing guidance on borrowing, issuance of new debt and undertaking debt-related transactions, issuance of loan guarantees, and monitoring of debt management transactions.

Notes:
The MTDS 2021 – 2025, dated September 2021, covers existing and projected government debt, has a horizon of five years, and is publicly available on MoFEA website. The strategy includes target ranges for interest rates, refinancing, and foreign currency risks. However, it is not clear that the cabinet approves the strategy as required by law. Besides, although the strategy influences the preparation of the ABP, the government does not view the ABP as a binding document.

Notes:

Notes:
There was no update of the Medium-Term Economic Fiscal Framework in the latter two of the last three completed fiscal years, FYs 2021 and 2022.

Notes:
There were no forecasts of revenue, expenditure, and the budget balance for the budget year and the two following fiscal years as part of the 2021 and 2022 budget processes. The executive budget submitted to the legislature for approval and the approved budget do not include outer year projections of revenues and expenditures.

Notes:
The government did not prepare macrofiscal forecasts for the latter two of the three years under consideration, i.e., for FY 2021 and FY 2022. The macrofiscal forecasts prepared for the FY 2020 (i.e., MTEFF 2020 – 2024) did not include a qualitative assessment of the impact of alternative macroeconomic assumptions.

Notes:

Notes:
MoFEA did not provide evidence of analyzing and documenting the fiscal impact of policy proposals in FY2021 and FY2022 budgets, as good practice requires, neither did it provide evidence of consolidating such analysis, where budgetary entities analyze the impacts as it affects them.

Notes:
The Gambia did not prepare any fiscal strategy for the last completed fiscal year (FY 2021), which is the period covered by the dimension.

Notes:
The government did not prepare any fiscal strategy in the last completed fiscal year, which is the period covered by this dimension. There was, therefore, nothing to report on.

Notes:

Notes:
The budget call circular requests for and receives three-year forward-looking MDA budget submissions; however, estimates of revenue and expenditure presented in the budget are for the budget year and the current year only; they do not include estimates for outer years.

Notes:
Migration to multiyear perspectives in fiscal planning and budgeting is in process; the government does not approve expenditure ceilings for the budget year and the two following fiscal years before the issuing of the first budget circular. Multiyear ceilings in the budget call circular covers only goods and services, subvention, and development component of GLF origin; this excludes external funding, about 40% of spending, and personnel costs.

Notes:
Ministries do not have extant medium-term strategic plans that meet the definition; work is still evolving in this area, as it is also around the provision of hard budget constraints (through medium-term fiscal strategies) to guide budget entities to cost their strategic plans realistically to improve funding assurance for them. Expenditure policy proposals in the annual budget estimates do not always align with the priorities of the NDP due to complications introduced by donor preferences and “political prioritization”.

Notes:
The Gambia is yet to adopt the multiyear budgeting technique, as explained PIs 14 and 15, and Dimensions 16.1-3.

Notes:

Notes:
The FY2022 budget calendar includes a timetable of activities that culminate with the submission of the draft budget to the legislature; actual processes beat the calendar, leading to the submission of the draft budget to the legislature 10 days early. However, the calendar allowed budget entities only three weeks to prepare their estimates.

Notes:
Budget entities prepare their budget estimates in detail, before the cabinet reviews them; the budget call circular issued to them covers only domestic resources, which

Notes:
Insufficient information to assess - dates of submission of estimates to house not available for FYs 2020 and 2021; however, the constitution allows it only 14 days (less than one month) to complete detailed scrutiny and approval.

Notes:

Notes:
The National Assembly reviews fiscal policies and details of expenditure and revenue estimate for the coming year only. The review does not include medium-term fiscal forecasts and medium-term priorities, as the government does not make these available to the legislature.

Notes:
The Revised National Assembly Standing Orders 2019, as amended, governs procedures for legislative review of the budget. The procedures include the use of specialized review committees and interaction with MDAs and other budget entities; however, there are no established negotiation procedures, technical support, and public consultation.

Notes:
The National Assembly has approved the annual budget, and the president has duly accented to them before the start of the year in each of the last three fiscal years.

Notes:
Clear rules for administrative reallocation exist; the rules are loose and permit extensive reallocations without ex-ante approval. Available evidence shows that violations affect about 15.4 percent of spending.

Notes:

Notes:
The GRA uses multiple channels to provide taxpayers with comprehensive information on their main tax obligations and their rights, including redress processes and procedures. However, the informal sector and rural communities lack effective sensitization and education; and access to tax legislations is difficult.

Notes:
The recently established compliance risk management system is in its infancy but evolving; a system of rewarding good taxpayers as incentive to reduce compliance risks is in place, but not the approaches appear to be partly structured, at best.

Notes:
The GRA does not have a “compliance improvement plan (CIP)”; neither is there evidence of pre-planning of revenue audits and investigations nor of their completion according to CIP.

Notes:
Analysis of data provided by the GRA shows that the stock of revenue arrears at the end of FY2021 was 8.3 percent of the year’s total revenue collection, and the revenue arrears older than 12 months was 18.20 percent of the year’s total revenue arrears. However, the assessors could confirm the reliability of the data provided, just as the TADAT 2018 Report could not on the same item.

Notes:

Notes:
The GRA collects 80 percent of total government revenues through six designated bank accounts and sweeps the balances twice weekly into the TSA domiciled at the CBG. The TSA interface with the IFMIS affords the AGD real-time information on the revenue sweeps.

Notes:
The GRA percolates collected revenue in its commercial bank accounts, which sweep twice weekly into the TSA. The TSA interface with the IFMIS affords the AGD real time information and access to the funds. The GRA collects 80 percent of government revenues.

Notes:
No complete reconciliation of assessments, collections, arrears, and transfers to treasury accounts takes place between the AGD and the revenue collecting entities - the GRA and MDAs.

Notes:

Notes:
At the least, the bank accounts of donor-executed projects (40 percent of expenditures), extrabudgetary agencies, and self-raised revenue agencies are outside the government’s cash consolidation process.

Notes:
Annual cashflow forecasts and monthly updates prepared by MoFEA are not comprehensive, omitting, at least, 35 percent or government resources and 40 percent of government expenditures.

Notes:
MDAs do not receive advance reliable information on actual resource availability for expenditure commitment; spending warrants issued by MoFEA and information provided based on the CMC meeting are also not sacrosanct, as there may not be cash-backing for them at the end of the day.

Notes:
MoFEA makes significant, frequent, and nontransparent in-year adjustments to the approved budget, using powers ascribed to it under the PFA Act 2014 and other enactments.

Notes:

Notes:
The state of the records does not permit accurate determination of the stock of expenditure arrears; records kept, and information reported are on “outstanding commitments”, which encompass “approved purchase orders, unpaid payment vouchers, and outstanding imprests”.

Notes:
The government does not maintain or report reliable data on the stock, age, and composition of EPA of any type – contract arrears, unpaid claims for salaries, pensions, supplies, services, rents, interest on domestic and external debt, etc.

Notes:

Notes:
There is no indication of how often reconciliation takes place between the payroll controlled by the AGD, the nominal roll or personnel database maintained at the PMO, and individual staff files maintained at MDA offices. There is no indication that an effective reconciliation has taken place within the last six months. Besides, identified shortfalls weaknesses in the staff audit of 2019, the lates financial audit report, and 2021 DIA Activity Report indicate serious integrity issues.

Notes:
The evidence shows systemic long delays in reflecting changes in personnel and payroll records.

Notes:
Sufficient control measures exist to ensure integrity of the payroll data of greatest importance, but they do not successfully secure full data integrity, as evidenced by the payment of unidentified staff (ghost workers), staff receiving double salaries, and outdated staff profiles, including cases of civil servants earning the salaries of their promotion while their personal files did not reflect their redesignations.

Notes:
The 2019 staff audit exercise had statewide coverage, including agencies outside the payroll system, e.g., Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Notes:

Notes:
No databases or records for contracts containing information on procured items, value of procurement, and supplier/successful bidder existed as at the cutoff date for this assessment, i.e., end of November 2022.

Notes:
There is insufficient evidence to score this dimension, given the nonavailability of information on contracts awarded on the WB projects, the Kuwaiti Fund, and other similar projects that use alternative procurement methods.

Notes:
The procurement system does not meet the complete requirements for public access on any of the six key items of information.

Notes:
The complaints review mechanism meets criterion 6 (i.e., issues decisions binding on every party, without precluding subsequent access to an external higher authority), but that there is insufficient evidence to rate performance under the five other criteria.

Notes:

Notes:
The regulations prescribe appropriate segregation of duties and responsibilities throughout the expenditure process; however, a recent IA review rates compliances as “unsatisfactory” due to “increasing irregular expenditure and noncompliance to set procedures”.

Notes:
Management practices (cash rationing, unorthodox use of virements, etc.) and MDA noncompliance with set procedures nullify the practicality of cash plans and expenditure warrants in limiting commitments and payments to available cash, thereby rendering them ineffective.

Notes:
The 2021 DIA Activity Report identifies serious issues of noncompliance with government regulation regarding payments.

Notes:

Notes:
The internal audit function has a charter, mandate, and staff deployed across all government departments; however, IA does not cover major capital projects, and MDA audit staff spend much of their time on accounting control work, which denies them sufficient time for systems monitoring and periodic reporting.

Notes:
Oral evidence informed and the DIA Activity Report 2021 confirms that internal auditors posted in MDAs are “preoccupied with vouching activities”, i.e., preaudit, leaving little or no time for systems monitoring or even financial compliance.

Notes:
The completion rate for RBIA workplan activities in FY2021 was only 36 percent in FY2021; special management requests and MDA preaudits took up scarce audit time. The DIA is yet to work out ways of balancing the cost of consulting engagements vis- à-vis their potential benefits, i.e., their impact on the implementation of the risk-based annual plan.

Notes:
MoFEA DIA reported that for 2021, only 9% of recommendations were implemented.

Notes:

Notes:
Reconciliation issues identified by both internal and external audit reports include (i) “inefficient reconciliation” of important revenue accounts, (ii) use of incorrect balances to reconcile cash and bank balances, resulting in large unresolved differences, and the accounts “not reconciling”, and non-review and signing of bank reconciliation statements by a senior officer”

Notes:
The Gambia does not have outstanding suspense accounts at the end of the fiscal year.

Notes:
The frequency, timing of reconciliation of advances could not be validated. The age- analysis for balances is not available to confirm that advances are cleared regularly.

Notes:
Access to changes is restricted to the IFMIS system administrator, after approval by the accountant general, and results in an audit trail; however, there is no dedicated operational body that verifies financial data integrity.

Notes:

Notes:
The monthly expenditure briefs cover only expenditure incurred from domestic resources to the exclusion of expenditures in self-accounting projects (SAP) and self- raised revenues and retained revenues. Thus, (i) extrabudgetary (deconcentrated) units’ budget execution, (ii) expenditure funded through donors (loans and grants) and (iii) of revenue collections are not included in the monthly expenditure briefs.

Notes:
It could not be confirmed that monthly budget briefing reports are presented within 4 weeks (as is required for a B score).

Notes:
Disparity in reporting formats of the budget and performance reports affects their usefulness: the approved budget includes both GLF and donor-project finances expenditures, while performance reporting excludes the latter.

Notes:

Notes:
Annual financial statements cover only revenues, expenditures, and cash balances, compared to the approved budget, but they exclude non-financial assets, guarantees, and cash flows.

Notes:
The National Audit Office returned the draft 2021 consolidated annual financial statements submitted by the Accountant General’s Department on 30 June 2022 (within six months of the fiscal year end) for not being in an auditable state; the AGD had not resubmitted it for audit by the end of 2022.

Notes:
The consolidated annual financial statements apply IPSAS Cash Basis and are consistent with the provisions of the Public Finance Act 2014; however, they are not IPSAS compliant in the disclosure of about 40 percent by value of government operations.

Notes:

Notes:
Audit focuses on both PFM systemic issues and financial and compliance issues, and covers government revenues, expenditures, assets, and liabilities; however, audit covers no more than 65 percent of government revenue and 60 percent of government expenditures.

Notes:
When the information is available, it indicates that significant time elapses between the date of receipt of financial statements for audit and the date of submission of the finalized audit to the legislature for discussion – 29 months, in the case the audited 2019 financial statements.

Notes:
Formal responses that are partially complete were made by the Accountant General on behalf of all executives on the audit findings for the audit of the Consolidated Annual Financial Statements for 2019 only (as the 2020 and 2021 audits are in progress) and dealing only with BCG. NAO indicated that as follow up, 80% of recommendations in the 2018 report have not been implemented.

Notes:
Five of the 6 criteria/indicators are met. The Auditor General however submits its reports to MoFEA for tabling in the National Assembly and are not published until tabling and review.

Notes:

Notes:
The time frame for legislative scrutiny of all relevant audit reports could not be confirmed against available data.

Notes:
The extent that entities other than the Office of the Accountant General on behalf of CBG, could not be validated.

Notes:
Recommendations are issued by the National Assembly; however, it could not be validated against supporting information, and there is no "in-year" tracking tool within the NA to monitor progress and status.

Notes:
The extent that the public had access to all hearings or committee reports could not be validated based on available information or against the NA website.