Public finance and budget law (finances publiques, loi organique relative à la loi de finances)
Public finance and budget law tests whether you can read the State budget as a legal instrument rather than a spreadsheet. The centre of gravity is the loi organique n° 130-13 relative à la loi de finances (LOF), adopted in 2015 and applied from the 2016 budget year, which replaced the 1998 organic law and imported performance logic (objectifs, indicateurs, projets/programmes) into Moroccan budgetary law, alongside Article 75 of the 2011 Constitution.
Principles and their exceptions
- Annualité: the authorisation covers one year, with douzièmes provisoires if the finance law is late.
- Unité and universalité: one budget, no compensation between revenue and expenditure - but the LOF preserves budgets annexes, comptes spéciaux du Trésor and SEGMA as structured exceptions.
- Spécialité: credits are voted by mission/programme; moving credits between programmes follows the prescribed regulatory or statutory route.
- Sincérité and équilibre: forecasts must be credible and borrowing must be explicitly authorised.
Instruments and calendar
The loi de finances (LF), the loi de finances rectificative (LFR) and the loi de règlement are three distinct instruments: the LFR amends in-year, while the loi de règlement certifies execution and discharges the government. The projet de LF is tabled at the Chambre des représentants by 20 October at the latest and must be voted by 31 December, after the parliamentary budget orientation debate.
Expenditure chain
Engagement (création de la dépense by the ordonnateur) → liquidation → ordonnancement → paiement by the comptable public, under the separation of ordonnateur and comptable. Control layers: contrôle hiérarchique, contrôle financier, IGF, Cour des comptes (loi 62-99).
Worked example
Fiscal revenue 480, non-fiscal revenue 90, operating expenditure 330, investment 275 (MAD bn). Ordinary surplus = 570 − 330 = 240. Overall balance = 570 − 605 = −35. The 35 deficit - investment exceeding ordinary savings - must be financed by Treasury borrowing authorised in the LF; reporting a 240 surplus means you confused ordinary and overall balance.
Traps
Confusing LFR with loi de règlement; treating special accounts as ordinary revenue; equating ordonnancement with engagement; forgetting that performance indicators accompany but do not replace legal authorisation.