Government budget decisions – what taxes to introduce, what services to provide, and how much to borrow, affect equality in society and the well-being of people, including whether those most disadvantaged will have real opportunities for a better life, it was said at the presentation of the research on budget transparency in BiH, which was held on Thursday, July 9, 2020 in Sarajevo, organized by the Center for Representation of Civic Interests (CPI).
The research included the openness of the budget of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Open Budget Survey (OBS) is the world’s only independent, comparative, fact-based survey that uses internationally recognized criteria to assess public availability of budget information, formal opportunities for public participation in the state budget process, and the role it plays in the budget process. have institutions that provide formal oversight, such as legislatures and supreme audit institutions.
“The research helps local civil societies to assess and discuss with their governments the use of public funds and ways of reporting. This seventh cycle of OBS includes 117 countries “, said the representative of the CPI, Aleksandra Banović.
She pointed to the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina is ranked 84th out of a total of 117 countries.
“This part of the OBS measures the public availability of information on how the government collects and spends public resources. The survey assesses the online availability, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of eight key budget documents, using 109 equally important indicators that measure budget transparency, and which give each country a score on a scale of 0 to 100. A transparency score of 61 points or more indicates that the state publishes enough material to inform the public and prepare for a public debate on the budget, “Banovic explained.
She noted that BiH scored 33 out of 100 for transparency.
“BiH’s result, which for transparency is 33 out of 100 in 2019, is similar to the result achieved by BiH in the research on budget openness in 2017,” said Banović.
The BiH authorities have been recommended that they give priority to the timely and online publication of periodic (quarterly) reports, followed by the preparation and timely online publication of the Citizens’ Budget and the semi-annual budget review.
It was also suggested to include additional information on revenues and expenditures in the Budget Proposal.
Performance indicators and macroeconomic indicators need to be included in the Annual Budget Execution Report.
Increase the comprehensiveness of the Adopted Budget by including a detailed estimate of expenditures by individual programs, showing additional information on individual sources of revenue, and information on estimating internal debt.
“Transparency alone is insufficient to improve the state administration. Public participation in the budget is key to achieving positive results associated with greater budget transparency. The Open Budget Survey (OBS) also assesses the formal opportunities available to the public to participate in a meaningful way at different stages of the budget process. It examines the practices of the executive, the legislature and the audit office, using 18 equally important indicators that are in line with the principles of public participation of the Global Fiscal Transparency Initiative, and on the basis of which each country is assigned a score on a scale from 0 to 100. Herzegovina, which refers to public participation, is 7 out of 100”, Banović said.