2022 Fiscal Transparency Report: The Bahamas

Government-by-Government Assessments: The Bahamas

During the review period, the government made its executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report widely and easily accessible to the public, including online.  Information on debt obligations was publicly available.  Budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue streams.  Information in budget documents was generally considered reliable.  However, the supreme audit institution, which met international standards of independence, did not publish an audit report of the government’s executed budget within a reasonable period.  The government specified in law or regulation and appeared to follow in practice the criteria and procedures for awarding natural resource extraction contracts and licenses.  Basic information on natural resource extraction awards was public.

The Bahamas’s fiscal transparency would be improved by:

• Ensuring the supreme audit institution audits the government’s executed budget; and
• Making audit reports publicly available within a reasonable period.