Speaking at a joint meeting of the finance committees of both houses of Parliament, dedicated to presenting the government’s vision regarding the reform of the LOF, Mr. Lekjaa stressed that after eight years of implementation of this law, practice has demonstrated the need to make amendments to some of its provisions to strengthen the governance of public finance management.
He said the proposed amendments aim to broaden the scope of the organic law to include public institutions carrying out non-commercial activity, to strengthen the sustainability of public finances and to consolidate the role of Parliament in the development and execution of finance laws.
In this regard, Mr. Lekjaa noted that public institutions carrying out non-commercial activities, numbering approximately 200 institutions and 20 legal entities subject to public law, constitute an extension of the State’s powers, which requires their submission to parliamentary control, in accordance with international practices.
The proposed amendments, he continued, relate to the budgetary operations of these public establishments and legal entities which will be decided, authorized, executed and controlled under the same conditions as those relating to the operations of the General Budget, with the adoption of a progressive approach in the implementation.
In this sense, Mr. Lekjaa explained that the proposed approach provides that the budget of these establishments be subject to the financial and budgetary rules consisting of establishing forecasts of all revenues and expenses, adopting the provisional nature of the budgets, in addition to the possibility of opening additional credits during the year.
These budgets should also be subject to a performance approach and to current accounting standards, he added.
Regarding the objective of strengthening the sustainability of public finances, the Minister said that the proposed reform provides for broadening the scope of parliamentary authorization in order to strengthen the transparency of public finance management, to rationalize the management of allocated resources by improving their recovery and optimal allocation, and to ensure additional resources for the State Budget.
The LOF, he argued, will include a definition of these allocated resources, their areas, their ceiling and the terms of payment of their surplus to the General Budget.
Furthermore, Mr. Lekjaa stressed that financial sustainability is a fundamental principle to ensure sustainable social and economic development, deeming it necessary to include a new budgetary rule to allow the LOF to set the rules for the financial balance of the State “so that they become an indisputable principle.”
In this regard, the Minister stressed the importance of defining the objectives, levels and trajectory of medium-term debt, while including an exception to this rule linked to the evolution of the economic and financial situation.
Regarding the role of the Legislative Institution in the preparation and execution of finance laws, Mr. Lekjaa specified that the draft LOF, as amended, provides for reducing the timetable for examining and voting on the draft amending finance law from 15 to 5 days (3 days in the House of Representatives, one day in the House of Councilors and one day in the House of Representatives for a second reading).
It is also a question of attaching to the amending finance law a presentation note specifying in particular the amended articles and of establishing the exclusive competence of the parliamentary committees responsible for finance for the examination and vote on this law.
At the same time, the proposed amendment plans to introduce new provisions relating to the settlement law, in particular the reduction of the deadlines for submitting this law to Parliament (before the end of December of the year following the budgetary year concerned) and the support of the settlement bill by the general account of the State, supported by the balance sheet, the income statement, the cash flow statement and an assessment of off-balance sheet commitments, the minister added.
And to support that the amendment also concerns strengthening the performance methodology by presenting to the relevant parliamentary committees the performance reports relating to the previous year, accompanied by the draft budgets of the ministerial departments, and to devote the dematerialization of the process of preparation and presentation of draft finance laws according to the implementing procedures defined by a regulatory text.
This meeting was also an opportunity for Mr. Lekjaa to recall that organic law No. 130.13 relating to the finance law has made it possible, since 2016, to modernize the public finance system and strengthen its adaptation to international standards and practices.
According to the minister, this law offers the possibility of controlling the balance and strengthening budgetary and accounting discipline and credibility, reducing the budget structure from 1,055 paragraphs and 258 articles in 2013 to 577 projects and 129 programs in 2024, as well as linking budget programs to the objectives and indicators of the implementation of sectoral policies.
Thus, 37 ministerial departments have prepared projects and performance reports, including for the current year 383 objectives and 786 performance indicators, he specified, noting that the evaluation program “Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability” (PEFA – Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability) welcomed the notable evolution of Morocco in the field of public finance management.
2024-08-28 20:13:29