A common image of Mauritania is one of asparsely populated country, with a nomadic population,limited physical resources and poor social and economicindicators. This was indeed the case only a decade ago. Lesswell-known is the fact that since about 1992 Mauritania hassuccessfully managed a major transition to economic andpolitical liberalization and has, with the support of theWorld Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),implemented a far-reaching set of macro-economic andstructural reforms. Results obtained so far areconsiderable: public finances have been stabilized, privatesector investment is growing, social indicators areimproving, and poverty is declining. There are also negativeeffects, including heavy rural-urban migration, high urbanunemployment and growing demands for social services andinfrastructure. Clearly, while the transition to amarket-oriented economy has begun, the process is notcomplete. To maintain the momentum of the economic reformsbegun in 1992 and to consolidate the gains made so far, thegovernment decided in 1994/95 to improve the mobilization,allocation and management of its public resources. Itdeveloped a Public Resource Management Program which had thefollowing objectives: 1) strengthen economic policy-makingcapacity; 2) improve domestic resource mobilization bybroadening and diversifying the tax base; 3) improve publicexpenditure allocation and management; and 4) modernizepublic administration to better meet the needs of amarket-oriented economy.
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