VZCZCXRO2668
RR RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0093 0200832
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200832Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1150
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2541

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 000093 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EEB/IFD/OMA B SAUNDERS AND SCA A SABAR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AID EAID ECON EFIN PREL TI
SUBJECT: BUDGET TRANSPARENCY IN TAJIKISTAN 
 
REF: STATE 1923 
 
¶1. (U) Following are post's responses to reftel regarding 
transparency of the government of Tajikistan's central budget. 
 
-- Is the central government expected to receive funding under 
the FY 2010 SFOAA? 
 
¶2. (SBU) Yes.  The U.S. government is expected to provide 
assistance to the central government of Tajikistan from several 
sources:  FMF and IMET (administered by the Embassy Dushanbe's 
Office of Defense Cooperation), NADR-EXBS (administered by the 
Embassy's Export Control and Related Border Security Program), 
and NADR-ATA (administered by Diplomatic Security).  In 
addition, some AEECA funding INL and USAID is intended to 
support the central government. 
 
-- Is the host country's annual national budget publicly 
available? 
 
¶3. (SBU) Yes, but not in detail.  The Russian version of the 
publicly available 2010 budget is 13 pages and only includes 
revenue and expenditures at the highest level of aggregation. 
Only fourteen broad expenditure categories are listed, including 
"government operations," "agriculture, land use, and water," and 
"mining, mineral processing, and construction."  The final two 
categories are "other services and sectors" and "other 
expenditures."  On the income side, just three sources are 
itemized:  taxes, non-tax proceeds, and grants for budget 
support (i.e., from international organizations).  Much of the 
budget is occupied by tables prescribing how funds are to be 
allocated regionally. 
 
-- Are incomes and expenditures included in the 
publicly-available budget? 
 
¶4. (SBU) Given the small size and generality of the published 
budget, a great deal about government operations remains 
unknown.  This not only includes information about government 
spending at levels more specific than the very broad categories 
mentioned above, but also the budgets of a host of other 
government institutions.  For example, the budgets of major 
state-owned companies, such as the Talco aluminum company, which 
is allegedly the government's biggest revenue earner, and the 
national electricity grid operator, are not publicly available. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In addition, there is also substantial reason to 
believe that much of the government's operations are entirely 
off-budget, and operate in a gray area governed by corruption 
and opaque rules.  For example, the recently completed 
presidential palace was alleged to have cost $300 million, but 
there is no accounting for it in the budget.  (The government 
claims the palace cost only $80 million.  Even that amount is 
not in the budget, however.)  Likewise, there is reason to 
believe that revenue from Talco and other state enterprises ends 
up in the pockets of the ruling elite, a proposition that is 
difficult to confirm because the finances of these state 
institutions are not available. 
 
-- What is post's assessment of the extent to which the 
publicly-available budget accurately reflects actual government 
incomes and expenditures? 
 
¶6. (SBU) The publicly-available budget may reflect some aspects 
of government operations at the highest levels of aggregation, 
but, in light of the concerns noted above, there are clearly 
very broad areas that remain opaque. 
 
-- Have there been any events since the 2009 review that may 
have affected fiscal transparency (e.g., a coup)? 
 
¶7. (U) See paragraph 8. 
 
-- Since last year's review, what efforts has the host 
government undertaken to improve fiscal transparency?  What 
progress has been made, pursuant to the 2009 demarches on the 
subject? 
 
¶8. (SBU) Until recently the government appeared to be on a path 
toward more fiscal transparency.  Several efforts were underway 
to provide more detailed information on spending, for example. 
So far, however, we have seen no results.  Things may in fact be 
getting worse.  A recent government campaign to coerce Tajik 
citizens into buying shares in the Roghun hydroelectric project 
raises even more concerns about budget transparency (to say 
nothing of human rights), since there has been very little 
mention of how these funds will be kept, spent, and accounted 
for. 
 
GROSS