The 2008 Open Budget Index (OBI) has been released by the International Budget Partnership on 1 February 2008. The OBI has been constructed in 2006 and “evaluates the quantity and type of information available to the public in a country’s budget documents” according to generally accepted good practice criteria for public sector management.
The 2008 Index was constructed by averaging countries’ answers to a 91-question Questionnaire (the Open Budget Survey) that covered the information contained in a country’s national budget documents that should be publicly available in countries. 85 countries were surveyed, compared to 59 in 2006. The questionnaire comprises three sections: (i) the dissemination of budget information, (ii) the executive’s annual budget proposal to the legislature and the availability of other information that would contribute to analysis of budget policies and practices and (iii) the four phases of the budget process.
Main findings in Africa
The 5 top performers - those that provide significant information to their populations- are: the United Kingdom (88%), South Africa and France (87%), New Zealand (86%) and the United States (82%). South Africa has slightly improved its score (85% in 2006) and continues to give its citizens a comprehensive picture of government’s plans for taxing and spending.
12 countries provide significant information on budget processes, and all score between 62% and 80%. Botswana (62%) is the only African country in this category. The government of Botswana gives its citizens a comprehensive budget proposal, publishes in-year reports on a monthly basis, a year-end report, and makes its audit report public. Botswana is also a top performer among resource rich countries.
Note: The results for the DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Sao Tome e Principe, Sudan are not reflected on the graph because they are new countries that scored 0 in 2008
African countries are scattered across the 2008 Index. 24% of African countries provide some budget information to the public, 16% provide minimal information and 52% provide scant or no information.
Several African countries’ performance has improved over the past two years. This is due to a range of factors such as: (i) improvements in budget transparency by publishing more budget documents; (ii) increasing participation with non-government actors during the budget process and political will; and (iii) implementing reforms in public finance management have improved the quality of budget documents. Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia have adopted one or all of these strategies. IBP admits that a better score could also be due to “researchers’ improved understanding and a stricter application of the Survey methodology, leading to partial reassessments” since 2006.
Unfortunately a small group of countries seem to have performed worse in 2008. These countries have either not produced certain documents previously published in 2006 or have included less information and/or less quality information on financial activity. This last point is important because some countries might publish more documents and still score less on the Index because of the information contained in budget documents. Some of these countries are Namibia, Tanzania, Malawi, Cameroon and Algeria.
IBP concludes that “[m]any governments could improve budget transparency at a low cost by making publicly available the budget information that they already produce for donors or internal use”. Political will and pressure from civil society are additional factors that contribute to better budget transparency.
Notes
The OBI’s questionnaire does not evaluate the quality or credibility of information that a government provides in its budget documents, although it does examine the comprehensiveness of this information.
· The term “Publicly available” may mean that a document is only available on request or for a fee.
Country Summaries are stand alone reports that do not analyse countries’ progress in budget transparency or offer explanations as to variations in practices since 2006.
Overall, the OBI is a big step towards showing governments’ progress in transparency and accountability to their citizens. It offers incentives to governments to disseminate budget information in a useful manner and has the potential to guide them into making the right policy choices and adequate budget reforms. Ultimately, the OBI is a valuable tool for citizens and non government actors to monitor government’s commitment to pro-poor expenditures and to put pressure for effective service delivery.
Area(s) for further Work
The timely dissemination of budget documents and participatory budget processes are vital for transparency and accountability. However, the accessibility of this information through medium and in formats, language and jargon which are adequate for every citizen matters. It would be useful to assess whether individuals in every country are aware of these budget documents, know where to find them and understand the implications of budget allocations in his/her life.
Please visit the Open Budget Initiative’s page for more information: www.openbudgetindex.org.
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