Morocco Scores 51 in Budget Transparency, Lags Behind Top Performers

Rabat – New findings from the Open Budget Survey 2025 by the International Budget Partnership show that Morocco continues to lag behind top-performing countries in budget openness and accountability, despite slight improvements.

The survey evaluates how governments share information about public spending, taxation, and debt, and how they involve citizens in these decisions. It measures three main areas, including transparency, public participation, and oversight.

Morocco scored 51 out of 100 in transparency, remaining below the global benchmark of 61, which indicates sufficient access to budget information. This places Morocco ahead of some countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, such as Lebanon (22), Algeria (22), Palestine (14), Tunisia (11), and Libya (2), but behind Jordan (62) and Egypt (59).

Countries such as Brazil (83), the Dominican Republic (82), and Norway (80) are among the leaders in budget transparency and accountability globally. These countries consistently publish detailed and timely fiscal data and enable public participation, says the report.

Morocco has made limited progress since 2023, the report added. The main improvement noted in 2025 was the publication of the Pre-Budget Statement online, which outlines the government’s fiscal plans before the official budget proposal.

However, key gaps remain. Morocco does not produce a Year-End Report, which is essential for assessing whether government spending met its goals. In addition, the Audit Report is published late, reducing its usefulness for accountability.

The report also notes weaknesses in the detail of budget documents. For example, the Executive’s Budget Proposal lacks comprehensive long-term projections and detailed macroeconomic data. Similarly, the Pre-Budget Statement provides limited information on public debt and future spending plans.

The International Budget Partnership recommends several steps to improve transparency. These include publishing all key documents on time, improving the depth of financial data, and ensuring budget files are easily accessible and searchable online.   It also calls for making Morocco’s Ministry of Economy and Finance website accessible to users abroad.

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