| Annual Report of the Accountant-General for the year ended 30 June 2002 1. THE TREASURY The Accountant-General is the administrative head of the Treasury of the Republic of Mauritius. The statutory duties of the Accountant-General are laid down in various legislation and regulations. The Finance and Audit Act specifically requires the Accountant-General to sign and submit to the Director of Audit, within 6 months of the close of every financial year, financial statements showing fully the financial position of the Republic of Mauritius on the last day of such financial year. The responsibilities of the Treasury include, inter alia, ensuring the adequacy of departmental accounting systems and procedures as laid down in the Financial Management Manual and other financial regulations and legislation and advising Accounting Officers of Ministries/Departments on accounting and financial matters. 2. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS The accounts were closed on 30 August 2002. The Statement of Assets and Liabilities and the detailed Statements of Revenue and Expenditure show, inter alia: - (i) the accumulated balance of the Consolidated and the Capital Funds; (iii) deposits made with Government for certain specific purposes; (iv) the outstanding advances made from the Contingencies Fund; (v) the total amount received under each head of revenue; (vi) the total amount spent under each vote and item of expenditure. 3. CONSOLIDATED FUND The original estimates for the year anticipated a deficit of Rs 3,520 million and the revised estimates, a deficit of Rs 5,390 million. The actual result was a deficit of Rs 4,970.9 million. The total revenue for the year amounted to Rs 24,606.1 million, i.e. Rs 1,493.9 million less the original estimates of Rs 26,100 million. Total revenue for the previous financial year was Rs 24,149.4million. The expenditure for the year amounted to Rs 29,577.0 million, i.e. Rs 43 million less than the original estimates of Rs 29,620 million. Last year's expenditure was Rs 31,398.2 million. The accumulated deficit of the Fund as at 30 June 2002, increased to Rs 31,586.9 million. Detailed statements of revenue and expenditure are included in this report (Statement D and Statement D1). 4. CAPITAL FUND The total revenue for the year was Rs 4,895.1 million compared with the estimated figure of Rs 6,331 million. Revenue includes grants amounting to Rs316.5 million and loans totalling Rs 1,777.9 million received from external sources. Last year's revenue was Rs5,073.2 million. The total expenditure amounted to Rs 6,092.2 million compared with an estimated figure of Rs 8,050 million. The previous year's expenditure was Rs 4,527.6 million. The deficit for the year was Rs 1,197.1 million. As a result, the accumulated deficit increased to Rs 9,885.6 million as at 30 June 2002. 5. CONTINGENCIES FUND During the year a total amount of Rs 984 million was appropriated to the Contingencies Fund and total advances made from the Fund amounted to Rs 971.5 million. 6. SPECIAL FUNDS As at 30 June2002, there were 8 Special Funds totalling Rs 1,130.9 million which were deposited with the Accountant-General. The Treasury is made up of sections arranged functionally as follows:- (i) Accounts and I.T. Section - responsible for:- (a) the maintenance of the Government's central accounting records; (b) the preparation, consolidation and publication of the accounts of the Republic of Mauritius; and
(c) the management of government's cash flows.
(ii) Public Debt and Loan Section - responsible for:- (a) the accounting, servicing and reporting of loans raised internally and externally for development purposes; and (b) the issue of loans to statutory bodies and local authorities, and the monitoring of loan repayments and interest charges.
As at 30 June2002, Public Debt excluding short term borrowings stood at Rs 20,272.4 million, of which Rs 11,807.8 million and Rs 8,464.6 million represented internal and external debt respectively. The cost of servicing the public debt during the year amounted to Rs 6,308.6 million and were allocated as follows: - Interest Rs (m) External Debt 207.2 Internal Debt 1,245.5 Short Term Borrowings 3,109.4 Sinking Fund 1,016.8 Management/Service Charges 21.9 Capital Repayments 707.8 The total amount of loans issued to statutory bodies, local authorities and other bodies during the year was Rs 320.2 million. The balance of such loans outstanding as at 30 June 2002, totalled Rs4,506.0 million. During the year, Rs 332.3 million were received as capital repayments and Rs 130.9 million as interest repayments. (iii) Revenue Section - responsible for:- (a) all Government overseas purchases and payments there of; (b) supervision of District Cash Offices whose function is to decentralise the services provided by the Treasury specifically in the collection and accounting of revenues and the payment of salaries, allowances and pensions; (c) collection of shooting and fishing lease tax and other miscellaneous revenue; (d) dealing with claims for accidents involving Government vehicles.
(iv) Licences Section- responsible for the collection of revenue through the issue and renewal of game licences under the Wild Life and National Parks Act. As at 30 June 2002, the number of Licensees on record was 5,718. (v) Chief Cashier and Payable Order Sections - responsible for the payment of salaries and allowances to Government employees, pensions and gratuities to retired Government employees, cost of goods and services supplied to Government by contractors and other suppliers. The Chief Cashier also acts as a revenue collector and as paying agent in respect of certain types of payments. (vi) Personal Emoluments Section - responsible for the preparation of paysheets relating to salaries and allowances payable to the staff of this Department. (vii) Pensions Section- responsible for the computation and payment of pensions/gratuities/and other allowances to:- retired Government employees, deceased public officers, contract officers and former members of the National Assembly, deceased pensioners, Ministers' Drivers and Constituencies Clerks. During the financial year under review, the number of cases dealt with, were as categorised below: - (a) Retiring Gratuities 1,502 (b) Death Gratuities 1,109 (c) Contract Gratuities 223 (d) Others 75
As at 30 June 2002, there were some 18,587 pensioners and 224 recipients of compassionate allowances on record. Disbursements made during the year were as follows: - Rs (m) National Assembly Retiring Allowances 23.5 Pensions 1,067.5 Compassionate Allowances 6.5 Retiring/Contract/Death Gratuities 421.2 1,518.7 (viii) Passages Section- responsible for the verification and payment of passage benefits to eligible Government employees and for the confirmation of passage arrangements for public officers proceeding on overseas leave and for delegates on official missions abroad. Some 15,186 cases were dealt with, involving a total expenditure of Rs 301.9 m as follows: - No.of cases Amount Rs (m)
Passage cost 7,292 74.4 Cashin lieu of passages 7,894 227.5 301.9 (ix) Car Loan Section- responsible for the processing of applications for car/motorcycle advances to public officers and officers on contract. During the period under review, a total amount of Rs 272.7 million was advanced to 1,217 officers as detailed below: - No. of officers Amount of Loan granted Rs (m) - Motor-Cycle 290 15.8 - Motor-Car 927 256.9 272.7 (x) Personnel Section- ensuring that personnel policies, rules, regulations and procedures are properly interpreted and applied consistently; providing advice, functional guidance and assistance on all personnel matters, including appointment and promotion, leave and passages, discipline, retiring benefits, industrial relation and welfare of staff. As at 30 June, 2002 the number of officers in the different classes/cadres working at the Treasury were as follows: - No. on Establishment No. in post Accountancy 8 8 Finance* - 48 Stores* - 2 General Service* - 1 Executive 6 6 Secretarial 11 8 Clerical 77 70 Computer 19 14 Workmen's 31 28 185 * Officers of the finance/stores and personnel cadres fall under the establishment of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry for Civil Service Affairs and Administrative Reforms respectively. (xi) Registry -responsible for receipt and despatch of correspondences, filing and indexing of letters, channelling of letters to sections concerned, ensuring proper file movements to various sections. (xii) Examination Section- responsible for the examination of payment vouchers before payments are effected and for the transfer of funds overseas at the request of the various Ministries/Departments. (xiii) Records Room- responsible for the classification and binding of all receipt and payment vouchers and other accounting records on a monthly basis. (xiv) Purchasing &Supplies Section - responsible for the indenting of all controlled Accounts Book Forms, Accounts Forms, Licences, Finance and Store Forms from the Government Printer for subsequent issues to Ministries/Departments. This section is also responsible for the purchase and supply of stationery, furniture and equipment for this Department.
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