The Minister of Budget and
State Owned Entities, Moussa Sanogo, was the guest on Tuesday 14 March 2023 of
the programme ''RTI reçoit'', which focused on the theme: ''The State budget at
the service of the citizen''. The
discussions were structured in three parts, namely the efficiency of public
spending; the mobilisation of tax and customs revenue and the services offered
to users-customers; and the contribution of public enterprises to economic
development.
He took questions from
journalists, viewers and internet users on all these areas, stressing that
despite the "strong impact" of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis on the
national economy, "the state coffers are doing well", with the
physical transformation of Côte d'Ivoire, which reflects the quality of the
economic policy implemented by the President of the Republic Alassane Ouattara.
But the guest of the day informed of the challenges to be met. "The budget
deficit has increased recently, especially because of the very strong hazards
related to the Ukrainian crisis, the level of inflation, now at 5%, is
relatively low compared to rates of 30% observed in neighboring
countries," added the Minister of Budget. However, he added that Côte
d'Ivoire has a moderate risk of over-indebtedness, estimated at a rate of 55%.
In the same vein, Minister
Moussa Sanogo assured that the State is concerned about the purchasing power of
citizens, which explains the subsidy of a number of products, to control prices
or the measures taken to increase the minimum wage and increase allowances at
the level of the civil service, not to mention the bonuses that have been
granted. In addition, Moussa Sanogo
announced that the implementation of the programme-budget mode is satisfactory,
having risen from 74% of the rate of execution of the objectives set at the end
of 2022, the first year of implementation of the programme-budget, to a rate of
90% for the State budget for the year just ended (2022). He took the opportunity to draw the attention
of economic operators to the risk that uncovered expenditure, i.e. not provided
for in the State budget, represents for them. To do this, he urged operators to
use the digital tools at their disposal to avoid this kind of situation,
particularly with CELIOPE which displays all the contracts covered by the
budget, and the e-provider which allows the user to know at which level his
file is.
Finally, concerning the
management of the State's portfolio, Moussa Sanogo maintained that public
companies are doing better. Responding to the question of audits, the latest
wave of which has been in the news, the guest assured that they are
commissioned to identify shortcomings and correct them, with cases of
misappropriation being referred to the courts.