On September 27, 2024, a workshop was organized by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in partnership with its main technical and financial partners, namely the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Union and the French Development Agency, to present the results of the PEFA 2023 (Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability) assessment. This is the third assessment carried out in Morocco, following those of 2009 and 2016, using an innovative and simplified approach entitled "Agile PEFA".
PEFA 2023 is based on the objective analysis of 31 indicators, grouped around 7 pillars, covering three main evaluation objectives:
(i) Budgetary discipline ;
(ii) Resources’ strategic allocation;
(iii) Efficient use of resources for service delivery.
For the first time, this edition also introduced an additional module assessing gender-sensitive public finance management, testifying to the performance achieved.
The assessment, covering the period 2020-2022, revealed an overall high performance of Morocco's public financial management system since the previous assessment, with 9 indicators showing positive progress and 10 indicators maintaining the same performance.
These achievements testify to Morocco's ongoing commitment to improving the performance and transparency of its public financial management system, which has evolved over the three PEFA assessments (2009, 2016 and 2023) in which Morocco has volunteered.
In concrete terms, and in addition to the performance achieved in gender mainstreaming in budget programming, the PEFA report highlighted several aspects, including:
- The credibility of budget forecasts;
- Transparency in subsidy transfers;
- Implementing a performance-based approach;
- Efficient debt management procedures ;
- Rigorous monitoring of financial assets;
- Remarkable development of the public procurement system;
- Reliability of quarterly budget execution reports ;
- High integrity of financial data ;
- The high credibility of the Court of Auditors.
On the other hand, areas for improvement have been identified, notably in terms of reducing the time taken to publish the Settlement Act and implementing guidelines governing the programming of investment projects, including the examination of gender impact.
The various conclusions drawn from this assessment will feed into and reinforce the public finance reform process currently underway, notably in the context of the revision of the Organic Law on the Finance Law, which is a key part of the ongoing process of strengthening the transparency, performance and sustainability of our public finances.
