Report No: AUS0000591 . Public Disclosure Authorized Lao People's Democratic Republic Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Assessment Public Disclosure Authorized . March 27, 2019 . World Bank Governance Global Practice Public Disclosure Authorized Equity, Finance and Institutions (EFI) Vientiane, Lao PDR, East Asia and Pacific Region . Public Disclosure Authorized . © 2019 The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. 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Lao PDR Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment.” All queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: [email protected]. 2 CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective as of January 1, 2019) Currency Unit = (Kips) US$1.00 = Rp 8,530 FISCAL YEAR I October - 30 September (until 2015/2016) January 1 – December 31 (since 2017) This report was prepared by Sylvie Zaitra, Consultant; John Short, Consultant; Viengmala Phomsengsavanh, Consultant; Maxwell Dapaah, Senior Governance Specialist (Financial Management); Fanny Weiner, Senior Governance Specialist (Public Sector), and Saysanith Vongviengkham, Governance Specialist (Public Sector). The work was funded by the European Union. 3 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. 8 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 15 2. Country Background Information ..................................................................................... 24 PILLAR ONE: Budget Reliability ......................................................................................... 43 PI-1. Aggregate expenditure outturn ................................................................................................... 43 PI-2. Expenditure composition outturn ............................................................................................... 43 PILLAR TWO: Transparency of Public Finances ................................................................. 48 PI-4. Budget classification .................................................................................................................. 48 PI-5. Budget documentation ............................................................................................................... 50 PI-6. Central government operations outside financial reports ........................................................... 52 PI-7. Transfers to subnational governments ....................................................................................... 57 PI-8. Performance information for service delivery ............................................................................ 58 PI-9. Public access to fiscal information ............................................................................................. 62 PILLAR THREE: Management of Assets and Liabilities ...................................................... 65 PI-10. Fiscal risk reporting ................................................................................................................. 65 PI-11. Public investment management................................................................................................ 67 PI-12. Public asset management ......................................................................................................... 72 PI-13. Debt management .................................................................................................................... 75 PILLAR FOUR: Policy Based Fiscal Strategy and Budgeting ............................................... 79 PI-14. Macroeconomic and fiscal forecasting ..................................................................................... 79 PI-15. Fiscal strategy .......................................................................................................................... 82 PI-16. Medium-term perspective in expenditure budgeting ................................................................ 84 PI-17. Budget preparation process ...................................................................................................... 87 PI-18. Legislative scrutiny of budgets ................................................................................................ 91 PILLAR FIVE: Predictability and Control in Budget Execution ........................................... 95 PI-19. Revenue administration ........................................................................................................... 95 PI-20. Accounting for revenue .......................................................................................................... 103 PI-21. Predictability of in-year resource allocation ........................................................................... 106 PI-22. Expenditure arrears ................................................................................................................ 111 PI-23. Payroll controls ...................................................................................................................... 113 PI-24. Procurement ........................................................................................................................... 117 PI-25. Internal controls on non-salary expenditure ........................................................................... 122 PI-26. Internal audit .......................................................................................................................... 125 PILLAR SIX: Accounting and reporting ............................................................................. 129 PI-27. Financial data integrity........................................................................................................... 129 PI-28. In-year budget reports ............................................................................................................ 134 PI-29. Annual financial reports ......................................................................................................... 136 PILLAR SEVEN: External Scrutiny and Audit ................................................................... 140 PI-30. External audit ......................................................................................................................... 140 PI-31. Legislative scrutiny of audit reports ....................................................................................... 145 4. Conclusions of the Analysis of PFM Systems .................................................................... 149 4.1 Integrated Assessment of PFM Performance ................................................................................. 149 4.2 Effectiveness of the Internal Control Framework ......................................................................... 152 4.3 PFM Strengths and Weaknesses ................................................................................................... 154 5. The Government’s PFM Reform Process ................................................................... 159 5.1 Approach to PFM Reforms ........................................................................................................ 159 5.2 Recent and Ongoing Reform Actions ........................................................................................ 163 5.3. Institutional Considerations ....................................................................................................... 168 Annex 1: Performance indicator summary .......................................................................... 172 Annex 2: Summary of observations on the internal control framework ............................... 181 Annex -3A: List of persons interviewed or consulted ........................................................... 185 Annex 4: Calculation Sheets for PI-1, PI-2 and PI-3 ............................................................ 198 5 List of acronyms ADB Asian Development Bank ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations AT Lao PEFA Assessment Team BCEL Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur Lao BoL Bank of Lao PDR BoP Balance of Payments CN Concept Note CPI Consumer Price Index EDL Electricité du Lao EU European Union FDI Foreign Direct Investment FFRDF Forest and Forest Resources Development Fund EPF Environment Protection Fund FICT Financial Information