This analytical paper aims at reviewing and analyzing the implementation of the 2017 General Budget1 for the first half of the current fiscal year. This report is rock-bedded on the 2017 June Financial Report. 2 The paper also compares some items with the same period of the last year (i.e. 2016) based on the Budget Law of 20163 and the Financial Report for June 2016. It also sheds the highlight on some expenditure items that need to be cut according to the key recommendations set forth in the "Rationalization and Austerity Report", which was put forward by Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) in 2015. The paper consists of three chapters:
- Chapter One reviews and discusses the extent to which the Ministry of Finance (MoF) complies with the relevant legal frames of reference. To that end, we resort to the provisions of the Basic Amended Law regarding the General Budget Organization and Financial Affairs Law No. 7 of 1998 and other relevant legislation, and the extent to which they adhere to the established General Budget transparency standards.
- Chapter Two moves on to a presentation and analysis of the 2017 General Budget items through a comparative analysis with actual achievements in the first half of the 2017 budget.
- Chapter three is given over to present the conclusions.
