FISCAL TRANSPARENCY IN DOMINICA

UNCLAS BRIDGETOWN 000207

SIPDIS

EEB/IFD/OMA JULIA JACOBY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ECON PREL XL
SUBJECT: FISCAL TRANSPARENCY IN DOMINICA

REF: STATE 028885


1. (U) This cable responds to reftel request for information
on fiscal transparencyin Dominica. Responses are keyed to
reftel quesions.

-- Is the central government expected to eceive or is it
already receiving U.S. foreignassistance funded using FY 09 funds?

Dominica bnefits from some regional programs for the Eastern
Caribbean funded out of USAID's Eastern Caribbea program, as
well as a few targeted bilateral programs, but these funds
are not provided directly o the central government.
Although USAID is actie in the region, it currently does not
fund progams supporting fiscal transparency or good
goverance. The Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance
Center (CARTAC) is available to 19 Caribbean counries to
assist these countries to achieve their acroeconomic,
fiscal, and monetary policy objectives. This program
operates as a UNDP project with the IMF serving as the
executive agency. It is funded by the Canadian International
Development Agency, the Inter-American Development Bank,
Ireland, the IMF, the UK Department for International
Development, the UNDP, the EU, and the World Bank.

-- Is the host country's budget publicly available?

The Government of Dominica practices fiscal transparency by
making its national budget publicly available on an annual
basis. The government does this by announcing the budget in
an open forum of parliament annually and doing a budgetary
review in parliament at the end of the fiscal year.
Dominica has not volunteered for the IMF to report on the
country's compliance with standards and codes covering fiscal
transparency.

There are some aspects of the budget, in particular the
Development Aid Account that includes funding from the
People's Republic of China, and the Government of Venezuela
that have limited disbursement details. In contrast,
development aid from the European Union is placed in a
separate account controlled by the National Authorizing
Officer and audited directly from the EU delegation in
Barbados.

-- Are incomes and expenditures included in the
publicly-available budget?

Yes, the budget is open for public scrutiny through its
budgetary offices, and available on the government website.
The publicly-available data are generally accurate and
meaningful and include all revenues and expenditures.
HARDT