FISCAL TRANSPARENCY IN TUNISIA

UNCLAS TUNIS 000237 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EEB/IFD/OMA (SNOW AND FIGUEROA),NEA/RA (PARLLARES AND SCOVITCH) AND NEA/MAG (HARRIS) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID ECON PREL PGOV TS SUBJECT: FISCAL TRANSPARENCY IN TUNISIA REF: STATE 16737 ¶1. Embassy Tunis provides the following narrative in response to reftel request. ¶2. The Government of Tunisia's national budget is publicly available and is published in the official gazette and on the internet. According to Tunisian law, the parliamentary debates on the annual budget are open to the public. The Tunisian Court of Accountability -- the Tunisian counterpart to the US Government Accounting Office -- monitors and investigates the use of GOT funds. Tunisia's ranking on Transparency International's (TI) Corruption Index has dropped from 43 in 2005 to 61 (out of 179 countries) in 2007 with a score of 4.2. According to the TI Corruption Index scale, a score of ten indicates extremely little corruption and a score of zero very serious corruption. There is no single GOT ministry or agency with combatting corruption as a specific mandate, although the Court of Accountability may investigate allegations of corruption through the course of their normal reviews. The US Embassy promotes good governance and transparency through visiting speakers, training and exchange programs in the United States, and through government-to-government technical assistance programs under the auspices of the Middle East Partnership Initiative and the Commercial Law Development Program. The Government of Tunisia is also implementing good governance programs with the United Nations Development Program and European Union member countries. The most recent IMF review of compliance with standards and codes governing fiscal transparency was conducted in 2002. Please visit Embassy Tunis' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/tunis/index.c fm GODEC