Islamic Republic of Mauritania Public Expenditure Review : Surfing the Wave - Public Spending during the Commodity Super-Cycle and Beyond
Mauritania’s economic growth has been largely driven by high commodity prices, leaving the country vulnerable to shocks. From 2009 to 2015, real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an average of 4.2 percent a year, primarily driven by rising commo...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/531191496723783398/Mauritania-Public-expenditure-review-surfing-the-wave-public-spending-during-the-commodity-super-cycle-and-beyond http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27906 |
| Summary: | Mauritania’s economic growth has been
largely driven by high commodity prices, leaving the country
vulnerable to shocks. From 2009 to 2015, real gross domestic
product (GDP) grew by an average of 4.2 percent a year,
primarily driven by rising commodity prices. The value of
its exports more than doubled between 2009 and 2013. The
mining boom and extensive foreign investment in the sector
have boosted growth in the construction, utilities,
transport, and communications sectors while agriculture and
fisheries have fallen behind. Budget execution has improved
as actual spending has started to match budgeted amounts
more closely in recent years. However, the overall figures
disguise much greater discrepancies in individual line
items, with significant variance even in relatively
straightforward areas such as debt servicing. Public
spending on social sectors remains below regional levels,
health and social affairs grew, while the share of justice
and sector ministries declined. However, a large share of
expenditure remains discretionary and unidentified: 30
percent of total expenditures are reported as ‘unspecified
expenses’ and are not classified by economic category, which
greatly complicates public expenditure monitoring and proper
expenditure recording. Mauritania should enhance the
transparency and quality of its fiscal data by: (i) auditing
the national oil fund, (ii) increase budget credibility and
discipline by minimizing ‘unspecified expenses’ and by
properly recording all expenditures (iii) reviewing
public-sector staffing (iv) keeping its public financial
database (BOOST) up to date to reflect its original and
revised budgets, and (v) strengthening financial oversight
of SOEs through regular performance monitoring and
publication of annual financial audits. The government has
become dependent on external assistance for investment,
creating problems of planning, coordination and insufficient
consideration of ongoing maintenance costs. A very small
proportion of the investment has benefited rural
electrification. Reforms of the sector should concentrate
on: (a) urgently reducing SOMELEC technical and commercial
losses, (b) reducing reliance on imported fuel oil by
investing in alternative energy sources and pushing ahead
with the Banda gas to power project, (c) revising SOMELEC’s
tariff structure, (d) targeting subsidies to mitigate the
impact of revised tariffs on the poor, (v) promoting rural
electrification, (e) developing electricity networks
particularly in the Senegal River Valley, (f) improving
SOMELEC’s governance and management, and (g) encouraging
public-private partnerships for investments in new infrastructure. |
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