Public accounts since 1997 to be finalized soon

Treasury credits worth $3.6 billion still unpaid

The public finance accounts since 1997 will be finalized soon, Director General of the Ministry of Finance Alain Bifani said on Tuesday. The MoF has been working to finalize a report for the financial accounts of previous years, since 1993.

The Cabinet assigned, in March, international auditing firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers to review the fiscal accounts of the government between 1993 and 2010. Bifani said the report will include a detailed account of all treasury credits issued through Cabinet decrees during this period.

According to Bifani some 380 decrees for treasury credits allocated to 30 different parties have been audited. “Treasury credits worth some $3.6 billion have not been paid yet,” said Bifani. He said half of the amount was allocated to the EDL.

According to Bifani, the accounts will also include a breakdown of all grants approved through Cabinet decrees between 1997 and 2010, including grants which have not been registered in the accounting sheets. Bifani said auditors were not able to trace older accounts: “Most of the documents issued between 1993 and 1996 have been missing.”