Open Budgeting - ESCAP

Open Budgeting:

Principles, Practices and

the Open Budget Survey

April 2019

Introduction: Open Budgeting

Budget transparency, participation and oversight play a

role in:

• promoting fiscal discipline

• increasing access to credit and lowering borrowing

costs

• identifying how to use public funds more effectively

• curbing corruption to help economies thrive

www.InternationalBudget.org 2

Three Pillars of Open Budgeting


Transparency

Oversight

Participation



• IMF Fiscal

Transparency Code

• OECD

Recommendation on

Budgetary

Governance

• IBP Open Budget

Survey

• PEFA

• TADAT

• World Bank – IMF

Guidelines for Public

Debt Management

Transparency

Oversight

Participation



• GIFT Principles of

Public Participation

• Open Budget Survey

(Section 5)

• IMF FT Code (2.3.3)

• PEFA (PI 18.2, PI

24.4) and

Supplementary

Module on Public

Participation

• TADAT PI 3-9 and PI

9-27

Transparency

Oversight

Participation



Transparency

Oversight

Participation

• INTOSAI

International

Standards

• Inter-Parliamentary

Union Universal

Declaration

• Open Budget Survey

(Section 4)

• OCED

Recommendation on

Principles for

Independent Fiscal

Institutions



Transparency

Oversight

ParticipationAccountability:

Transformation of

public finance and

tangible improvements

to people’s lives

Open Budgeting and the SDGs

• Tracking Spending Commitments on SDG

Priorities: Information on how governments raise and

spend public funds, and the results achieved, is central

to attaining the SDGs

• Assessing the Credibility of Spending

Commitments: Open budgeting is also central to

allowing citizens to hold their governments to account

for commitments made in budgets on spending related

to the SDGs (recognized by SDG indicator 16.6.1)


Open Budgeting and Inequality

• Philippines: Proposed National Budget includes a

detailed outline of how the government will prioritize

expenditure so as to contribute to poverty reduction

• Fiji: Chapter in the budget proposal with details of

programs targeting women, children, and people with

disabilities.

• Pakistan: Federal Medium-Term Estimates for Service

Delivery sets out several programs aimed at poverty

alleviation, a discussion of policy priorities, expected

outputs and budget figures for past spending and

future allocations and projections.


Open Budgeting and Tax Morale

“Citizens are more likely to comply with local tax

regulations when governments are more

transparent, when citizens exercise voice in the

policy process, and when governments deliver

better public services.”

– World Bank: Of Governance and Revenue Participatory

Institutions and Tax Compliance in Brazil (March 2019)


The Open Budget Survey


• 18 revised questions

examine formal

oversight institutions

• 109 indicators used to

construct the Open

Budget Index assess

whether governments

publish online and in a

timely manner eight

key budget documents

• 18 new questions

examine opportunities

for public participation

in national budget

decision-making and

oversight

OBS Research Process


The Open Budget Index (OBI) 2017


• The average OBI score of the 115 countries surveyed in 2017 is 42 out of

100, suggesting that the global state of transparency is limited

Open Budget Index 2017: Asia Pacific

40 42

0

20

40

60

Asia & Pacific Global Average

18 countries 115 countries

• Top global performers

• New Zealand (89)

• South Africa (89)

• Sweden (87)

• Norway (85)

• Georgia (82)

• Top Asia & Pacific

performers:

• Philippines (67)

• Indonesia (64)

• Kyrgyzstan (55)

• Kazakhstan (53)

• Nepal (52)

Only 61% of documents are published


About 65% of documents in Asia and

Pacific countries are published


Percentage of documents published

Of Asia-Pacific country documents

that are published, key details missing


Open Budget Index score of published documents

Global increases in transparency halted


• The average OBI score fell from 45 in 2015 to 43 in 2017

for the 102 countries surveyed in both rounds

Lower global OBI score reflects decline in

document publication

• Net number of documents published declined by 37

– First time survey found a drop in document publication

• Asia and Pacific countries did not contribute to this decline;

they published the same number of documents in 2017 as

2015

– But some volatility: 17 documents stopped being published,

while 17 documents started being published

• Regularly publishing key budget documents is one tangible

way that governments can improve their transparency

practices


Changes in OBI scores: Asia & Pacific

• Eight countries

increased by more

than five - 2015 to

2017

• Nepal (+28)

• Fiji (+25)

• Cambodia (+13)

• Three countries

decreased by more

than five - 2015 to

2017

• Bangladesh (-15)

• Papua New

Guinea (-6)

• Mongolia (-6)

36

43

36

46

40

44

0

20

40

60

Asia & Pacific Global Average

2012 2015 2017

18 countries 18 countries

Scores on participation are low

• Not a single country out of the 115 surveyed offers

participation opportunities that are considered adequate (a

score of 61 or higher)

• The average global score is just 12 out of 100

• Only 4 countries have scores that indicate limited

opportunities for public participation: Australia, New

Zealand, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom


Participation: Asia and Pacific

12

13

0 10 20 30 40

Global Average

Asia & Pacific

Legislative oversight is limited

• Legislatures exercise more oversight earlier in the budget

process than during implementation

• Legislatures amend the budget in over half of the countries

surveyed…

• In more than one-third of countries, legislatures do not

examine any Audit Reports produced by Supreme Audit

Institutions


Legislative oversight


• Average score for Asia and

Pacific countries is 48,

equal to the global average

• Generally, legislative

oversight is stronger during

formulation than during

execution phase

7

9

7

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0-40 41-60 61-100

Asia-Pacific Countries grouped by 2017

Legislative Oversight Score

Weak Limited Adequate

Supreme Audit Institution oversight


• Average score for Asia and

pacific countries is 65, just

above global average of 63

• 16 countries have

conditions for SAI to

perform adequate oversight

• 9 countries score over 70,

including 5 that score

over 80

34

16

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

0-40 41-60 61-100

Asia-Pacific Countries grouped by 2017

SAI Oversight Score

Weak Limited Adequate

Thank You

Contact Information:

International Budget Partnership

[email protected]

Sally Torbert, Program Officer for Asia

[email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Open Budgeting - ESCAP

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