Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER FOUR: ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT__________________________________________________________________________opaque for the majority of Beninese people and even the controlling bodies –there are still revenues that are not budgeted for today. This is particularly truein the case of revenue from the sale of second-hand vehicles and fromescorting these vehicles to neighbouring countries. These revenues are said toprovide Benin with nearly 1.2 billion CFA franc per month, according to theMinistry of Finance, but they are not budgeted for. This seems applicable tofunds looted some time ago and recovered in one way or another, but theirbudget allocation was not brought to the attention of the public.425. Despite campaigns personally initiated by the head of state against corruption,and therefore for the promotion of transparency and accountability in themanagement of public resources, the opinion of stakeholders seems to be thatthe ideology of each successive government is: “it is now our turn to eat”.With the entrenchment of the culture of corruption and the climate ofimpunity, the people are sceptical about whether the fight against corruptioncan be successful. Corruption seems to have become a measure of success inlife. Fighting against a practice that has been entrenched as a culture calls forexemplary and systematic sanctions for economic crimes, especially thosecommitted at the top.426. This seems all the more true since the legal texts make no provision for thepublication of budget statements for wide dissemination, or for theparticipation of the public in the allocation of public resources and themonitoring of budget implementation. The current slow budgetimplementation is also perceived by the public as part of the same network ofcorruption and illicit enrichment. It should, however, be noted that, for somepeople, the slow spending of budget allocations is due mainly to thesluggishness of disbursement mechanisms, the levels of competence ofbudgetary authorities, splitting up of expenditure procedures, and the practiceof making demands that fall outside the specifications.427. Compliance with most of the WAEMU macroeconomic convergence criteriais an accomplishment to be commended in Benin. However, this has beenachieved in a climate of widespread corruption and increasing poverty.Macroeconomic performance, while the population is being impoverished, isan obvious sign that stabilising the macroeconomic framework is not the samething as stabilising development, which is what the current APRM exercisehopes to do.428. The CRM noted that the macroeconomic convergence criteria of WAEMU, aswell as the requirements and conditions of the programmes of internationalfinancial institutions (the IMF and the World Bank, in particular), also limitthe country‟s room for manoeuvre. However, it seems that low salaries cause„petty‟ corruption as people try to take advantage of state tools at their disposalto supplement their incomes. Some even assert that this is morally acceptable.One macroeconomic convergence criterion is that tax should not exceed 17%of GDP. As Benin is at 14.4%, it is possible for the country to increase itsrevenue through taxes – over and above the current efforts to broaden the taxbase – and to reach the level of the WAEMU convergence criterion. This willenable the country to increase its revenue and possibly contemplate an155