An urban area in Vinh Long province's Binh Minh district (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Local governments have become more transparent withhow they spend public money, but more needs to be done, according to a report.
The 2018 Provincial Open Budget Index (POBI) report published on June 12 byBudget Transparency, Accountability and Participation (BTAP) showed that theaverage transparency score out of 100 of provinces and cities increased from30.5 in 2017 to 51 in 2018.
The research group led by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and PolicyResearch (VEPR) recognised the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long as having themost transparent administration in terms of its budget, with 90.52 points.
The coastal northern city of Hai Phong placed last with 5.14 points.
Researchers surveyed 63 provinces and cities on two main pillars – budgettransparency and civil participation – to evaluate localities’ efforts to fullydisclose all relevant fiscal information in a timely and systematic manner.
The index was built on four main criteria of completeness, timeliness,availability and convenience in providing seven documents that the 2015 Law onState budget mandates be disclosed and two other documents that need to bepublished with international best practices.
These documents should be found on the websites of provincial people’scommittees, people’s council and departments of planning and investment.
The coastal southern centre and Mekong Delta were the two regions with thehighest average POBI points of 60.9 and 59.16, respectively.
Meanwhile, northern central provinces were most reticent to disclose publicbudget information.
Last year, 29 provinces published draft budget estimates in a timely fashion (withinfive days of their delivery to provinces’ people’s councils), compared to onlynine in 2017.
However, completeness and the convenience of accessing budget-related documentswere improved remained poor.
Only 10 provinces fully disclosed all 13 forms of their provincial draft budgetestimates in 2018 compared to two provinces the year prior.
Although there is a section for budget transparency on the websites ofprovincial departments of planning and investment, information is oftendifficult to access and rarely updated.
On civil participation, the report concluded provincial authorities did nothelp people engage in budget transparency.
The national average score for this was 34.35, with Bac Ninh province leadingat 66.6 points.
On behalf of the research group, researcher Vu Sy Cuong expressed his hopesthat the report would help enhance budget transparency.
“I think the National Assembly, when discussing budget allocation, should alsotake how provinces use the State budget and disclosure related information,” hesaid.
“There should also be mechanisms to ensure localities make the informationavailable for people to effectively monitor the public budget,” Cuong added.
Nguyen Minh Tan, deputy head of the Finance and Budget Division under theNational Assembly’s Finance and Budget Committee, said budget informationremained lacking as provincial authorities had not understood the importance oftransparency to local development. At the same time, Vietnam has not issued anyregulations to punish localities who aren't transparent.
“It is essential to create pressure and instruct local authorities to improvethe availability of budget-related information. This is a legal loopholeoutside of the report’s scope that needs addressed in the long term,” he said.
POBI is a national initiative implemented independently by non-profit researchinstitutes. The 2018 POBI report was conducted by two members of BTAP includingVEPR and the Centre for Development and Integration (CDI) under the frameworkof the Promoting transparency, accountability and people participation inmanaging the state budget project sponsored by the EU Delegation to Vietnamthrough Oxfam.
“POBI along with other indexes such as PCI (provincial competitiveness index)has become a tool to enhance openness, democracy and transparency as well ashelp Vietnam demonstrate international commitments of an open government,” saidVEPR director Nguyen Duc Thanh.
The full report can be found at www.ngansachvietnam.net. — VNS/VNA
The 2018 Provincial Open Budget Index (POBI) report published on June 12 byBudget Transparency, Accountability and Participation (BTAP) showed that theaverage transparency score out of 100 of provinces and cities increased from30.5 in 2017 to 51 in 2018.
The research group led by the Vietnam Institute for Economic and PolicyResearch (VEPR) recognised the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long as having themost transparent administration in terms of its budget, with 90.52 points.
The coastal northern city of Hai Phong placed last with 5.14 points.
Researchers surveyed 63 provinces and cities on two main pillars – budgettransparency and civil participation – to evaluate localities’ efforts to fullydisclose all relevant fiscal information in a timely and systematic manner.
The index was built on four main criteria of completeness, timeliness,availability and convenience in providing seven documents that the 2015 Law onState budget mandates be disclosed and two other documents that need to bepublished with international best practices.
These documents should be found on the websites of provincial people’scommittees, people’s council and departments of planning and investment.
The coastal southern centre and Mekong Delta were the two regions with thehighest average POBI points of 60.9 and 59.16, respectively.
Meanwhile, northern central provinces were most reticent to disclose publicbudget information.
Last year, 29 provinces published draft budget estimates in a timely fashion (withinfive days of their delivery to provinces’ people’s councils), compared to onlynine in 2017.
However, completeness and the convenience of accessing budget-related documentswere improved remained poor.
Only 10 provinces fully disclosed all 13 forms of their provincial draft budgetestimates in 2018 compared to two provinces the year prior.
Although there is a section for budget transparency on the websites ofprovincial departments of planning and investment, information is oftendifficult to access and rarely updated.
On civil participation, the report concluded provincial authorities did nothelp people engage in budget transparency.
The national average score for this was 34.35, with Bac Ninh province leadingat 66.6 points.
On behalf of the research group, researcher Vu Sy Cuong expressed his hopesthat the report would help enhance budget transparency.
“I think the National Assembly, when discussing budget allocation, should alsotake how provinces use the State budget and disclosure related information,” hesaid.
“There should also be mechanisms to ensure localities make the informationavailable for people to effectively monitor the public budget,” Cuong added.
Nguyen Minh Tan, deputy head of the Finance and Budget Division under theNational Assembly’s Finance and Budget Committee, said budget informationremained lacking as provincial authorities had not understood the importance oftransparency to local development. At the same time, Vietnam has not issued anyregulations to punish localities who aren't transparent.
“It is essential to create pressure and instruct local authorities to improvethe availability of budget-related information. This is a legal loopholeoutside of the report’s scope that needs addressed in the long term,” he said.
POBI is a national initiative implemented independently by non-profit researchinstitutes. The 2018 POBI report was conducted by two members of BTAP includingVEPR and the Centre for Development and Integration (CDI) under the frameworkof the Promoting transparency, accountability and people participation inmanaging the state budget project sponsored by the EU Delegation to Vietnamthrough Oxfam.
“POBI along with other indexes such as PCI (provincial competitiveness index)has become a tool to enhance openness, democracy and transparency as well ashelp Vietnam demonstrate international commitments of an open government,” saidVEPR director Nguyen Duc Thanh.
The full report can be found at www.ngansachvietnam.net. — VNS/VNA
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