through to submissions from public bodies and the consolidation of estimates, in February. The call circular indicates ceilings derived from the MEFF – after prior approval by the Council of Ministers. It also indicates the deadline for submitting budget requests and provides guidelines for preparing recurrent and capital submissions, and dealing with external loan and assistance. MoFED then prepares the issues note and holds budget hearings with top management of Ministries and Agencies. At the end of this process, MOFED prepares a proposal for submission to the Prime Minister’s Office, to be tabled and approved by the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers reviews and approves, for onward transmission to the House of People’s Representatives for final discussion, review, and approval. 357 At the regional level, similar to what operates at the federal level, the Regional Bureaus of Finance and Economic Development (RBOFED) receive the budget proposals from each line agency and hold budget hearings to review each budget proposal for their respective region. Line agency proposals are prepared at the lowest administrative level (usually woreda) and compiled at the regional line agency level before submission to the RBOFED. After the necessary hearings, reviews and adjustments, RBOFED presents (through the Regional Executive Committee) the Regional Consolidated budget proposal to the Regional Assembly, for discussion and approval. On approval by the Regional Assembly, a regional budget conference consisting of all stakeholders in the region (civil society, NGOs, professional associations, etc.) debates the regional budget. Final approval of the budget is given at the conference. 358 In general, there exists a good framework providing for budgetary transparency. The budget process adopts the MEFF framework which, as described, is based on the close interaction of a bottom-up and top-down approach. Ultimately, the annual budget estimates are agreed upon based on identified policies and priority programmes across sectors and regional states, institutions, and government hierarchy. The projected resource envelope is also agreed upon. The CRM notes the impressive framework for budget consultations in Ethiopia, the degree of effectiveness and inclusiveness of these consultations at the local levels, although challenges remain. Revenue Mobilisation Framework 359 The CRM notes that, in recent years, government intensified efforts to increase domestic revenue collection in order to reduce fiscal deficits. As noted earlier, domestic revenue from tax and non-tax sources accounted for about 61 to 66 percent of the national budget in the last five years. Tax revenue alone accounted for about 80 percent of total domestic revenue in 2007/08 (37.2 percent over the - 150 -