Open Budget Survey

Four out of five of the 117 governments assessed in the Open Budget Survey 2019 failed to reach the minimum threshold for adequate budget transparency and oversight, and even fewer provided opportunities for the public to participate in shaping budget policies or monitoring their implementation. But there are signs of progress.

Advances on budget transparency are encouraging but not sufficient to allow for meaningful public dialogue on budget priorities.

• The Open Budget Survey (OBS) 2019 found modest improvement in budget transparency scores globally, reversing the decline seen in the previous round, and restoring the upward trend shown since the survey began in 2006. 

• But faster global progress is constrained by failure in many countries to sustain improvements in transparency practices over time or by stagnation at low levels of budget transparency in other countries.

Three quarters of the 117 countries surveyed do not have sufficient levels of budget transparency.

• The global average score in OBS 2019 is 45 out of 100, when a score of 61 is considered the minimum threshold to foster an informed public debate on budgets. 

Problems associated with a lack of budget transparency are compounded by gaps in oversight by the legislature and supreme audit institutions.

• Countries tend to score higher on audit oversight as compared to legislative oversight, but only 30 of the 117 surveyed countries score at adequate levels of oversight from both institutions.

Few countries provide meaningful opportunities for the public to participate in the budget process, which undermines the public's ability to effectively use available budget information.

• But innovative practices in some countries demonstrate how governments can initiate and strengthen public engagement.

Rapid progress toward reform on these issues is possible, but will require all stakeholders to unite around a common agenda.

Select OBS-related blogs:

Harnessing accountability through external public audits , Vivek Ramkumar, Claire Schouten, IBP

Devil in the details: Budget transparency in the health and education sectors  Maria Jose Eva, Jason Lakin, Sally Torbert, IBP

The Vaccine Against COVID-Risk: Open Budgets, Open Response, Open Recovery : Jamie Drummond, global strategist, The Global Goals and co-founder of ONE.

A Call to Action on Open Budgets during the COVID-19 Crisis , Sally Torbert, IBP.

Using Data for Social Good: Transparency of Public Finances is Vital , Claire Schouten, IBP.

Crippling Debt: Transparent Lending and Borrowing must be part of the solution , Tim Jones, Jubilee Debt Campaign

View the virtual OBS launch event  broadcast on April 30, 2020.