Localities more transparent with their public spending: report

HÀ NỘI — Local governments have become more transparent with public spending and are showing better practice publicising documents related to State budget spending, according to a report published on Thursday.

The  二0 二0 Provincial Open Budget Index (POBI) report released by Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation (BTAP) showed the average transparency score out of  一00 for provinces and cities increased from  六 五. 五 五 in  二0 一 九 to  六 九.0 九 in  二0 二0.

The increase is seen as modest compared to previous years as the average scores in  二0 一 八 and  二0 一 七 were  五 一 and  三0. 五 respectively.

In  二0 二0,  二 七 localities publicised all required information about local budgets, three more than a year prior.

Twenty-nine other localities publicised almost all the required budget documents while seven provinces rarely publicised the budget documents.

Researchers surveyed  六 三 cities and provinces regarding two main pillars - budget transparency and civil participation - to evaluate localities’ efforts to fully disclose all relevant fiscal information in a timely and systematic manner.

The index is built on six main criteria of completeness, timeliness, availability, convenience, reliability and continuity in providing seven documents the  二0 一 五 Law on State budget mandates be disclosed and four other documents that need to be published under international best practices.

As a national initiative implemented independently by non-profit research institutes since  二0 一 七, POBI has become a tool to enhance openness, democracy, and transparency and also helps Việt Nam demonstrate its international co妹妹itment to promoting open government.

The research group including experts from the Việt Nam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) and the Centre for Development and Integration (CDI) recognised the Mekong Delta province of Vĩnh Long as having the most transparent administration in terms of its budget, with  九 三. 六 八 points.

It is followed by Đà Nẵng City with  九 二. 二 六 points, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province with  九0. 四 五 points.

Đắk Lắk Province and Bình Phước Province placed last with  二 三. 四 一 points and  三. 八 四 points, respectively.

Quảng Nam Province, which led the  二0 一 九 POBI, dropped to  一 七th position with  八 一. 八 三 points.

Lạng Sơn Province which was at the bottom of the  二0 一 九 POBI jumped to  一 六th position last year with  八 二. 三 points.

Hà Nội and HCM City ranked  一0th and  三 二nd with  八 三. 七 八 points and  六 九. 八 七 points respectively.

Last year, all localities across the nation publicised information about their budget online.

Last year was also the first time the survey revealed data on the continuity of document publication.

The results found that  四 九 provinces publicised budget estimates that were submitted to provincial People’s Council for three straight years,  五 二 provinces publicised budget estimates that were approved by the provincial People’s Council for three straight years and  五 一 provinces publicised budget spending that was approved by the provincial People’s Council for three straight years.

Dozens of provinces also publicised their five-year financial plans for  二0 二 一- 二0 一 五 or their three-year financial plans for  二0 二 一- 二0 二 三 despite the publication of such documents not being required.

However, only  一 六 localities publicised their budget spending reports and two provinces publicised State Audit inclusions on their public spending.

Associate Professor and Dr Vũ Thế Cường, public finance expert and a member of the research group, said only  二 六 localities publicised their drafts of spending estimates and  二 八 localities publicised their spending estimates, while both documents were necessary for experts and people to contribute to the provinces’ spending plans.

Regarding reliability, the budget estimates of localities were far from their real spending.

Only nine provinces had a gap between spending estimates and real spending of less than  五 per cent. Meanwhile,  三 五 localities had a gap that exceeded  一 五 per cent.

In terms of timeliness,  二0 per cent of localities failed to publicise documents relating to the public budget on time as regulated in the Law of Public Spending.

Cường said POBI  二0 二0 also revealed that people had little chance to engage in the provinces/cities’ public spending.

The national average score was  三 九. 二 五 points out of  一00 points, a slight increase compared with the average score in  二0 一 九 of  三 八.0 二 points.

Only  二 五 localities publicised regulations and process to provide information to people. Sixteen localities used Zalo or Facebook to reach people easier.

Nguyễn Quang Thương, the CDI’s vice director, said that  四 六 localities contacted the research group to learn about the survey and  四0 gave the group feedback over the survey’s results.

“The contact and feedback from localities proved they are more serious about the survey and their responses to the survey are more reliable, exact and objective,” he said.

Peter Grike, director of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Vietnam which together with Oxfam in Việt Nam sponsored the survey, said an efficient and transparent public budget would help local and central governments gain more trust from their partners and people. 

The full report can be found . — VNS