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Budget Training Improves Legislative Debates
FrontLines - November 2009
By Karima Rhanem
Although the Moroccan parliament had authority to oversee
the budget, it lacked reliable information and analysis until
USAID’s Parliament Support Project helped create a Budget
Analysis Bureau (BAB).
Described by the Moroccan press as “profound and effective,”
the BAB supports both houses of Morocco’s parliament and has
expanded the legislature’s role in evaluating and executing the
national budget.
It has provided more than 40 budget papers, enabling members
of parliament to better understand the budget and provide more
effective analysis.
“The BAB is a model of partnership with USAID and an
example of effectiveness and efficiency for the other administrative
units in the Moroccan parliament,” said Moroccan Senate
President Maati Benkaddour.
He also recently announced that the BAB budget for fiscal
year 2009 will be doubled to help fulfill its role as an independent
directorate.
Since its creation, the BAB has contributed to a substantial
increase in committee oversight initiatives on budget or financial
issues. Parliament made 72 substantive amendments to the 2008
national budget, compared with 33 in 2006.
“The achievements of the Moroccan parliament represent
a lesson for other Arab parliaments to learn as they establish
legislative budget offices in their countries,” said Noureddine
Bouchkouj, the secretary general of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary
Union.
The Lebanese, Egyptian, and Jordanian parliaments have
expressed interest in learning from the Moroccan BAB model.
USAID worked with the State University of New York on
the project. National institutions such as Bank Al-Maghreb (the
national bank), the High Commission for Planning, and the Audit
Court provided training and technical assistance to the BAB. .
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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