BOTSWANA'S BUDGET IS TRANSPARENT

UNCLAS GABORONE 000326 SIPDIS FOR EEB/IFD/OMA JULIA JACOBY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID ECON PREL BC SUBJECT: BOTSWANA'S BUDGET IS TRANSPARENT REF: STATE 28885 ¶1. In response to reftel Embassy Gaborone provides the following information about the Government of Botswana's budget: - The GOB is receiving FY09 assistance. - The budget for the GOB is publicly available. Budget information is available online at http://www.gov.bw and through the government printing office. Further, the budget is debated in detail in Botswana's Parliament. The transcript of these debates is available in the "Hansard," printed copies of which are available at the Botswana Parliamentary Library. Botswana is also in the process of posting these transcripts on the Parliament of Botswana's website www.parliament.gov.bw. Additionally, the GOB has consistently been responsive to inquiries from Embassy Gaborone on specific questions. - Incomes and expenditures are available in the publicly available budget, although particularly detailed information will need to be requested from the GOB. The published numbers also include income and expenditure charts starting with the fiscal year 2002/03 budget. ¶2. Post's assessment is that the publicly available budget accurately reflects the government's planned income and expenditures. On occasions when the budget needs to be changed, the GOB does this publicly and announces the revisions in Parliament. NOLAN