Budget transparency: the American Government welcomes the efforts of nine countries including Senegal

In its desire to have clear and precise figures, the American government regularly evaluates the budgetary transparency of countries eligible for its foreign aid. The objective is to ensure rigorous use of American public funds. The report entitled “Fiscal Transparency Report 2026” and produced during the period from January 1 to December 31, 2025, based on information from American embassies and consulates, other American government agencies, international organizations and civil society organizations reveals some telling data.

It indicates that 16 African governments are among those meeting minimum requirements for budget transparency. Above all, it reveals that nine States are making significant progress in this area. These are Senegal, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Liberia, Libya, Niger and Sao Tome and Principe.
Regarding Senegal, there is no question of “pinpointing”, but of recommendations.

The report also lists “measures that Senegal could take to continue to improve budgetary transparency”. This involves detailing, in the budget, the financial allocations intended for the main public companies as well as the income they generate, making public the obligations linked to the debt of the main public companies.
In this work, the criteria used are public access to budgetary documents as well as information relating to sovereign debt, public procurement and contracts relating to the extraction of natural resources.

This progress to which the American report alludes is directly related to the bold measures taken by the government of Senegal. Indeed, during the period examined, the government published, within a reasonable time, the audits covering the entire executed annual budget. A document widely “available to the public, especially online, and was generally comprehensive and generally reliable, although it did not include allocations to or revenues generated by major state-owned enterprises.”

The government also monitored its budget throughout the fiscal year, and actual revenues and expenditures corresponded reasonably to those forecast in the adopted budget. In addition to these aspects, the Supreme Audit Institution, which met international standards of independence, audited the entire budget and its reports included substantive findings.

In recent years, Senegal has made a lot of efforts in terms of budget transparency. Recently, the President of the Republic created a General Directorate of Financing and Debt. Also last month, the Minister of Economy, Finance and Planning published the list of Senegal’s partners. The challenge is to further promote transparency and budgetary credibility.
Oumar FEDIOR