**3.4 Budget enactment**

The National Assembly must consider and adopt the final version of the appropriation bill within a fixed time following the beginning of the session. The consideration of the budget proposal starts in the finance and budget Committee1. Here budget discussions are conducted by the Committee President to resolve all major budget issues. At the end of the discussions and after all the budget analyses, the Committee then develops its budget recommendations for consideration by the entire house in the plenary session.

The adoption of the final version of the bills takes place in the plenary session in the presence of the entirety of the House and the whole Government team. Presided over by the Speaker of the House, this adoption goes through two steps including the budget hearings known as the parliamentary debate and the passing or the vote on the bills. At the beginning of the parliamentary debate, the Head of Government presents the information on the trends of the national economy, the public finances guidelines and the development of major investment projects. Then follows the questions and answer session during which Cabinet Ministers are called upon by parliamentarians to defend their budget requests.

The passing of the finance law like that of other legislations is conducted by the Speaker of the House at the floor of the entire House. Unlike other legislations, the finance law must be debated and passed in two separate and sequential steps. First, the first part of the finance law is debated and passed. It is only after the adoption of the first part that the second part of the finance law may be debated and passed.

#### **3.5 Budget promulgation**

Once the National Assembly considers the budget proposals and adopts the final version of the appropriation text, it forwards it to the Presidency of the Republic. The President of the Republic signs it into law within a fixed period following the receipt.
