TUNISIA'S CENTRAL BUDGET: RESPONSE TO SFOAA

UNCLAS TUNIS 000239 SIPDIS STATE FOR EEB/IFD/OMA (JACOBY),NEA/RA, AND NEA/MAG (PATTERSON/HAYES) CASABLANCA FOR FCS (ORTIZ) CAIRO FOR FINANCIAL ATTACHE (SEVERENS) LONDON AND PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN PGOV PREL TS SUBJECT: TUNISIA'S CENTRAL BUDGET: RESPONSE TO SFOAA SECTION 7088(C)(1) REF: A. STATE 28885 ¶B. 08 TUNIS 237 ¶1. (U) The Government of Tunisia will receive the following foreign assistance for FY09: US$ 10 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF),and US$1.7 million in International Military Education and Training (IMET). ¶2. (U) The Government of Tunisia's national budget is publicly available and is published in the official gazette and on the internet. It details both income and expenditures. 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. ¶3. (U) Tunisia's ranking on Transparency International's (TI) Corruption Index has dropped from 51 in 2006 to 62 in 2008 (out of 180 countries) with a score of 4.4. 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 a specific anti-corruption mandate, although the Court of Accountability may investigate allegations of corruption through the course of their normal reviews. Godec