Budgeting in Egypt

4. Budget oversight and transparency

4.1. Role of Parliament

Parliament’s scrutiny of the annual budget has improved since FY 2021/22 although further progress is needed to meet international good practice. As required under the Constitution, the Government submits its draft State Budget to the Parliament by 1 April which provides the Parliament with the twelve-week period recommended by the OECD for scrutiny, examination and debate before the start of the fiscal year on 1 July. Both deadlines have been consistently respected.

The Pre-Budget Statement, when prepared, is submitted to the Parliament for information purposes only. The House does not hold a pre-budget debate to help inform the Government’s budget preparations, which is common in legislatures in OECD countries.

The PBC, which consists of a chairperson and 26 representatives, leads the review of the draft budget. There are 25 sectoral committees which submit written opinions to the PBC for consolidation. Deputies may propose amendments but may not increase total expenditures without Government consent. There is no Parliamentary Budget Office to provide the PBC with expert technical analysis of the draft budget. In several OECD countries, parliamentary budget offices have boosted parliamentary capacities to scrutinise and support higher quality debates on budgeting and public finance. Similarly, 15 African countries have established PBOs to strengthen their fiscal oversight challenges.1 Such a body in Egypt would contribute to enhancing the quality of debate and improving the credibility of public finance management in general.

Public engagement in the parliamentary budget process remains limited and largely ad hoc. Committee hearings are the main structured channel for external input, and even these are not consistently used to consult with citizens, civil society organisations or professional bodies during budget deliberations. There are no digital platforms, e-petitions or open consultations to solicit public feedback on the draft budget, and committee reports are not proactively published. In OECD countries, such mechanisms are increasingly used to enhance transparency and empower public understanding. Piloting outreach initiatives, such as inviting written submissions from stakeholders or resuming livestreaming of budget debates that stopped in 2016, could help make Egypt’s parliamentary budget oversight more comprehensive and inclusive.

Parliament plays an important role in overseeing budget execution and reviewing the Government’s Annual Final Accounts but there is room to strengthen its functions. The final report is regularly submitted after the legal deadline (efforts by the ASA to improve timeliness notwithstanding), which dilutes the relevance of any debate, as the reports are more dated than they should be.

Since, 2018/19, the Mid-Year Review is prepared annually and published by the Ministry of Finance. However, there is no provision for Parliament to debate it so it is not systematically scrutinised by the House. Building on existing practices, prioritising timely consideration of the Final Accounts and exploring ways to make the Mid-Year Review even more informative could help enhance Parliament’s oversight of public finances and reinforce accountability. The analysis in the report could be further strengthened by providing clearer breakdowns of revenue and expenditure, explaining significant deviations from the approved budget, and presenting a more explicit forward-looking analysis on whether fiscal targets remain achievable. The expansion of this forward-looking section would benefit from examining how emerging fiscal risks could influence the outlook, especially in the context of MTBF implementation, and from outlining the measures being taken to manage and mitigate these pressures.

Nonetheless, the two budget cycles have witnessed success in enhancing parliamentary scrutiny and outreach. Beyond the BPC, sectoral committees now hold post-budget hearings on final accounts and audit findings, invite expert input on draft laws and decisions, and conduct field visits to governorates to gather citizens’ views and reflect them in budget deliberations. In addition, the Parliament’s Suggestions and Complaints Committee provides another participation channel, considering legislative proposals and suggestions from MPs and citizens, as well as studying and helping resolve complaints. Citizens can also submit complaints and feedback through the Parliament’s website, which could be taken into account during the formulation and approval of the State Budget.

4.2. Accountability State Authority (ASA)

The ASA, as the Supreme Audit Institution in Egypt, is responsible for external audit of public finances. Its mandate, set in primary legislation, is to audit state funds, the funds of public bodies and all entities managing public resources. The legislation provides that the ASA enjoys both operational and financial independence even though this is not expressed in the Constitution. Furthermore, the ASA may have access to documents, books, records, and officials in audited entities, and it actively co-operates with Parliament to support it in carrying out its oversight functions.

The ASA has autonomy to determine its audit priorities and methodologies. It prepares an annual Audit Plan covering compliance, financial, and performance audits, based on its strategic goals. While the ASA carries out compliance audits, financial audits, and performance audits, these reports are not published and the number of such reports is not available publicly although the ASA provides the Parliament with a copy of each report for the attention of the relevant committee The organisation’s structure includes separate departments for each audit type. However, limited feedback is collected from auditees on the utility of audit findings and there is currently no external quality assurance process for ASA operations. Quality control is carried out internally through the ASA’s Central Department for Technical Inspection and Quality Control, and through the application of the INTOSAI SAI Performance Measurement Framework.

The ASA audits the State Budget’s final accounts and is required to submit its reports to the President, the Cabinet, and Parliament by 31 December, within six months of fiscal year-end. This meets international benchmarks but the most recent audited financial accounts for FY 2023/24, however, were published in September 2025, which exceeds the constitutional timeframe by nine months. Since FY 2022/23, more emphasis has been placed on timely publication within the required time frame, but these efforts need to be enhanced.

The ASA audits the accounts of all local governments annually. Every year, the ASA selects several cities for its annual audit cycle, with reviews conducted on a risk sample basis within every governorate. The findings are public. Although Article 217 of the Constitution requires the ASA to publish its reports, the current ASA Law 144/1988 limits disclosure to the President, Parliament and the audited entities, so local government audit findings are not yet released to the public; only a high-level summary is annexed to the State Final Accounts Bill.

ASA reports often include critical findings on such things as incomplete financial statements, delayed capital projects, procurement inefficiencies, and outdated internal controls for high-cost activities. In addition to financial audits, the ASA produces annual performance reports within six months of fiscal year-end. These may gain more traction as programme and performance budgeting becomes embedded across ministries, provided that ASA audits can be better aligned with the performance indicators used by line ministries.

Efforts are underway to enhance the follow-up on ASA recommendations. Individual auditors monitor the implementation of recommendations and may escalate non-compliance if needed. However, implementation is not tracked systematically and reported to parliament, and there is no consolidated data on the number of recommendations issued or the implementation rate. To address this, the ASA has introduced software for auditees to submit action plans and progress updates, enabling auditors to review these updates and conduct follow-up audits when necessary.

While ASA reports are published online, they are not proactively promoted. Press releases were issued along with media coverage on the findings and recommendations for the 2023/2024 final account audit report, but they are not readily available to the public. The ASA currently maintains formal mechanisms through which citizens can contribute to audit investigations, such as submitting suggestions via its website, sending documents by post, or calling its public telephone line, yet interaction with the public remains limited and largely confined to complaints handling. Developing a more proactive communications strategy, including user-friendly summaries of key findings and outreach to non-government stakeholders, could enhance the ASA’s visibility and impact, as well as strengthening engagement with civil society. To the extent that dissemination of information and audit findings is constrained by data confidentiality requirements prescribed in ASA legislation, this should be examined with a view to raising greater awareness of recommendations.

The ASA submits all its audit reports to Parliament and interacts with multiple parliamentary committees. In 2024/25, Parliament held only one formal hearing on the 2022/23 State Budget audit report, and subject-specific hearings remain rare. Parliament typically endorses ASA reports and urges implementation of recommendations, but this engagement is largely reactive and lacks a structured process for follow-up. Establishing formal mechanisms for Parliament to monitor ASA recommendations and hold executive entities accountable would strengthen legislative oversight and align with OECD good practices on effective budget oversight.

4.3. Budget transparency

Egypt has progressed its fiscal transparency significantly since 2021 earning recognition for the regular publication of budget documents and innovative public participation mechanisms. In the 2023 Open Budget Survey, Egypt scored 49/100 on budget transparency, 35/100 on public participation (ranking 1st in MENA and 8th globally), and 54/100 on budget oversight. (International Budget Partnership, 2023[11]) These achievements reflect sustained efforts by the MoF to make core fiscal information more accessible, such as the Citizens Budget, Transparency Briefs, the Tax Expenditure Report (first issued May 2024), and infographics made available through social media and outreach events, including in schools. The Fiscal Transparency and Citizen Engagement Unit (FTCU), established in 2018, has played a leading role in launching participatory budget pilots at Governorate level and institutionalising community consultations. These initiatives align with OECD good practices on budget transparency and demonstrate Egypt’s commitment to fostering public trust in fiscal policymaking.

Building on this progress, the MoF is working to enhance the accessibility of fiscal information. The MoF website contains a digital platform on which all budget cycle reports and other occasional reports are published, for enhancing public access to information. Some of the reports, such as the Monthly Financial Bulletin, are published with open source excel attachments and the FTCU is including more machine readable excel sheets and more innovative mechanisms to facilitate wider public engagement. However, a significant issue is that many of these transparent practices and tools lack legal or regulatory mandates, which means their continuity is dependent on administrative discretion. Anchoring these practices in law and expanding the use of open-data formats would strengthen the sustainability and impact of MoF’s transparency efforts. Furthermore, draft legislation currently before parliament would require the ASA to publish general government audits within six months of the fiscal year end.

Regarding the information included in the documentation, risk disclosure can be improved. Fiscal risk reporting has been improving since FY 2017/18 but there is room to expand the quantification of risks and scenario analysis in terms of detail and timeframe to better inform fiscal policy decisions. Furthermore, there is currently a focus on the annual budget only. To reinforce the impact of the recently introduced medium-term fiscal orientation and empower public understanding of fiscal priorities, the MoF should consider including citizen-friendly information on the MTBF, with highlights from the MTDS and MTRS in the Citizens Budget. This would align with OECD good practices by ensuring that medium-term objectives are clearly communicated, widely understood, and support informed public debate on spending priorities and trade-offs.

Public participation in fiscal processes has emerged as a strong feature of Egypt’s transparency agenda. This is embedded in the executive regulations of the PFM Law, which prescribe transparency and reporting obligations for administrative agencies. The regulations explicitly link these obligations to public participation, mandating that reporting should allow citizens to engage with, and provide input into, the budget process. The FTCU’s participatory budget model, piloted in the Fayoum and Alexandria governorates since 2020, aims for more effective public spending, as well as better social and economic development by engaging communities, NGOs, and marginalised groups in budget consultations and school-based outreach.

The participatory budget pilot initiative represents an innovative platform for engaging the public by linking public preferences to budget allocations at governorate level and strengthening public trust in public finance. Following the successful pilot experiences in Fayoum and Alexandria, the initiative was rolled out across all 27 governorates in 2023. A steering committee headed by the Minister of Finance and supported by two sub-committees, the Technical Secretariat Committee and the General Secretariat, is leading the implementation of the model nationwide. In this regard, the FTCU has extended the model to two additional governorates (Beni Sueif and Damietta) and plans to implement it in two more (Menya and Aswan) before the end of FY 2026/27. The initiative involves public consultations by the MoF to identify local challenges and ensure they are reflected in the budget. The pace of this scaling-up, however, will depend on the availability of sufficient human and financial resources to implement participatory budgeting in all governorates.

Note

← 1.  Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.