Resource information
The Public Expenditure Management and
Financial Accountability Review (PEMFAR) analyzes
Niger's public expenditures in the four priority
sectors, as identified by the Poverty Reduction Strategy
(PRS) - education, health, rural development, and roads. The
findings of the PEMFAR can be summarized as follows. Major
efforts are still required to improve the quality of
teaching, reduce inequalities between rural and urban areas,
and correct gender imbalances. The Government also needs to
develop a global education strategy covering primary,
secondary, higher education, and vocational training. The
health sector continues to face complex policy and
managerial issues. The Government should improve access to,
and utilization of basic health services, and, address
behavioral and living conditions issues, including access to
safe drinking water and sanitation. The rural development
sector, which is managed by four ministries and includes a
multitude of externally-financed projects, faces formidable
challenges: a) increasing productivity by modernizing
traditional cultivation and cattle-raising practices; b)
expanding irrigation to reduce vulnerability to erratic
rainfall; and, c) creating an environment conducive to
sustainable development. The Government needs to expand
cooperation in rural development with stakeholders and
development partners. Despite considerable resources
invested to create a national road network, inadequate
funding maintenance conduced to serious degradation of the
road network. A revision of the priorities of transport
sector programs, in particular of recurrent ratio to
investment expenditures, and, agree on an effective road
maintenance funding mechanism. It is recommended to broaden
the tax base with the least impact on the poor; improve
budgeting, making it both more realistic and conservative;
strengthen the cash management system, and increase
transparency to better manage severe liquidity problems;
strictly limit foreign borrowing in volume, with only
contract loans on highly concessional terms, and strengthen
coordination of development assistance. In several
high-priority sectors, more external funding for recurrent
costs would help improve the efficiency of the public
expenditures program.
