Bill relating to public finances: Unanimous adoption by the National Assembly
On June 8, the National Assembly in the Democratic Republic of Congo unanimously voted the bill relating to public finances modifying and supplementing law n°11/011 of July 13, 2011 during a plenary session chaired by Christophe Mboso, President of the Lower House of Parliament.
Since July 2011, the law relating to public finances has governed the management of public finances in the DRC. It establishes results-based budget management, in particular through the establishment of program budgets. Given the scale and complexity of the reform actions to be implemented, the legal deadline for switching to the program budget initially set for January 1, 2019 has been postponed. A five-year moratorium had been granted by the legislator through Law No. 18/010 of July 9, 2018, in order to allow the executive to fulfill the conditions for passage.
The new public finance bill sets this new changeover deadline at 1 January 2024. This new bill also makes changes to matters relating to the budget orientation debate, allocations, budget documentation, deadline for the changeover and the annual parliamentary monitoring of the implementation of the reform of the program budget.
Thus, the Congolese government has adopted a roadmap for the 2022-2024 program budget which is being implemented to be ready for this changeover. However, there still remains a significant need for capacity building of sector ministries and institutions in the preparation and execution of the budget in program mode. The Congolese government has therefore deemed it appropriate to revise Law No. 11/011 of July 13, 2011 relating to public finances in order to readjust the changeover.
Declared admissible, the new bill was put to the vote, article by article, without debate. After having collected a unanimous vote of the National Assembly, the new bill will be submitted to the Senate for the second reading before its promulgation by the President of the Republic.
By adopting this new bill, the DRC is taking a step forward in modernizing its budget management system by adopting the program budget, in line with international standards. This reform will optimize the allocation of public resources, make the entire budget process more transparent and contribute to better accountability.