The document discusses the importance of budget transparency and its relation to open government, emphasizing the need for public access to budget information and citizen participation in the budgeting process. It outlines the International Budget Partnership's Open Budget Survey, which evaluates transparency through various metrics and indicators. The paper highlights the interconnectedness of fiscal transparency, public engagement, and the challenges of information dissemination while calling for improvements in clarity and collaboration among stakeholders.

1. 14th Annual OECD Public Sector Accruals Symposium, 3-4 March, 2014
Budget Transparency and
Open Government: overlap and differences
Elena Mondo
Supervisor, Open Budget initiative, IBP
www.Internationalbudget.org

2. CONTEXT: Budget Transparency
• Budgeting: essential for public policy
• Why budget transparency?
• Increased international focus on budget transparency
(OGP; GIFT; revisions of IMF Code, OECD principles, OBS
Questionnaire, PEFA)
• How to assess budget transparency?
o Different metrics (IMF ROSCs, OBI, OECD, PEFA)
o IBP’s Open Budget Index (from the Open Budget Survey)
o Efforts towards standards convergence
• What does IBP mean by budget transparency?
• Engagement of oversight institutions and citizens in the
budget process: key complement to fiscal transparency
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www.Internationalbudget.org

3. What is IBP’s Open Budget Survey?
• Objective, independent, comparative and global survey
that evaluates, in 133 questions, the following:
1) Budget Transparency = public access to timely and
comprehensive key national budget information
(eight key documents evaluated in the Open Budget Index)
2) Opportunities for public participation in budget processes
3) Strength of formal oversight institutions (Legislature & SAI).
• Based on international good practices developed by the
IMF, OECD, INTOSAI, and the IBP.
• Regular biennial publication: four rounds completed in
2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012. It now covers 100 countries.
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www.internationalbudget.org

4. CONTEXT: Open Government
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•
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International focus goes beyond fiscal transparency
What is Open Government?
Who is involved in it? [government + citizens]
Open Government Partnership:
http://www.opengovpartnership.org/
• How does OG relate to budget transparency?
o Broader, includes fiscal transparency & public participation
o Criteria to enter OGP include fiscal transparency (OBI)
o OGP countries’ commitments on fiscal transparency and
public participation
o Fiscal Openness Working Group within OGP
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www.Internationalbudget.org

5. Budget Transparency & Open Government:
Overlaps, Differences, Complementarities
• Broad focus – need to prioritize budget transparency
• Release of budget information
o Information in real time (example: transparency portals)
vs. specific documents
o Raw [open] data vs. accessible data
o Information on PFM processes & reforms, as well as data
o Risk of information overflow
• Open up processes as well as datasets
• Public engagement: simplify concepts, visualize data,
publicize citizens input mechanisms + feedback
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www.Internationalbudget.org

6. Public Participation in the Budget Process
Open Budget Survey
• OBS includes 12 indicators measuring this.
• They relate to six principles:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
PP should occur throughout the budget process.
PP should occur with all parts of the government.
PP should have a legal basis.
The purposes for PP should be publicized in advance.
Multiple mechanisms for PP should be implemented.
Feedback: the government should publish reports
that present the public’s inputs
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www.Internationalbudget.org

7. Going forward
1. Improve clarity of concepts – open government,
open data, open budgets…
2. Next Open Budget Survey to be published in 2015
3. Strengthen the Fiscal Transparency Working
Group at OGP
4. Further collaborate to harmonize standards
5. Document and share best and innovative
practices, both in budget transparency and public
participation in the budget process.
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www.Internationalbudget.org

8. THANK YOU!
Contact Information
820 First Street, NE Suite 510
Washington, D.C. 20002
Phone: +1-202-408-1080
Fax: +1-202-408-8173
Email: info@internationalbudget.org
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www.internationalbudget.org