Public Finance, Budgeting, and Fiscal Oversight
Public Finance, Budgeting, and Fiscal Oversight
This domain tests the National Finance Act and the Constitution's finance chapter: the budget cycle, supplementary budgets, settlement, and Assembly oversight. Date arithmetic and the division of authority between the government, the Assembly, and the Board of Audit and Inspection are frequently tested.
Core rules
- The fiscal year runs from 1 January to 31 December.
- The government submits the budget bill 90 days before the fiscal year begins and the Assembly decides within 30 days before it begins.
- The Assembly cannot increase expenditure or create new expenditure items without government consent (Art. 57).
- Supplementary budgets are proposed when revenue or expenditure changes; they follow the same assembly process.
- The government submits the settlement of accounts by 31 May of the following year; the Board of Audit and Inspection inspects first, and the Assembly reviews it.
- The Special Committee on Budget and Accounts coordinates budget and settlement review; the National Assembly Budget Office supports analysis.
Worked example
The government submits the 2026 budget on 30 September 2025. The constitutional deadline is 90 days before 1 January 2026, i.e., 3 October 2025, so submission is timely. The Assembly must decide by 1 December 2025 (30 days before the fiscal year). A decision on 2 December would miss the constitutional deadline, even though the fiscal year has not begun.
Traps
Do not count 90 days backwards from 31 December; count from 1 January. 'Within 30 days before' is not 'by 31 December.' The Assembly's power to amend the budget is not unlimited: increases need government consent. Settlement review is not the same as audit.