The Local Government Financing System in Senegal

Abstract

Outlines decentralization in Senegal beginning with independence and later with the transfer of powers to the regions, communes, and rural communities (collectively known as CTs) through legislation that defines the missions and competences of the CTs, their organization, functioning, and oversight. The budget, prepared annually by the CT's elected executive, includes a classification of expenditures and revenues by type; however, there is confusion between the two classification systems and in the investment expenditure column. Most of the responsibilities transferred to the CTs concern education and health and though the law does not always require them to perform these responsibilities, it mandates the budget to include expenditures for them. Local resources include taxes, levies, property income, and user charges and fees; but tax revenues are always late and incomplete, and the identification of the tax base suffers from inaccuracies causing substantial abatements. Many intergovernmental transfers take place, but their total amount is modest compared with other local resources.