Notes on the Budget Settlement Law

The budget settlement law is an essential mechanism for parliamentary ex-post control of public finances, providing an accounting verification and retroactive validation of the annual budget. According to Morocco's 1972 organic finance law, it certifies annual financial results and approves variances from forecasts. However, during the 1977-1983 legislature, these laws were simply ignored—despite the imperative legislative deadline requiring submission within two years following budget execution. The author attributes this to multiple factors: ministry inertia, parliamentary disinterest, and Court of Accounts disengagement. The government eventually submitted three settlement bills in April 1987 for the 1979–1981 fiscal years, though parliamentary debate remained merely formal.