Seminar to announce Provincial Open Budget Index (POBI) 2019
On July 8, 2020, the Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) and the Center for Development and Integration (CDI) – 2 members of the Budget Transparency Alliance (BTAP), announced the Provincial Open Budget Index (POBI) 2019 of Vietnam. The results show that there have been notable improvements in transparency in terms of document types, content, deadlines and tools for making budget documents public. The significant improvement of the POBI 2019 index compared to previous years showed that localities have improved their awareness of budget disclosure.
POBI 2019 consists of 2 pillars: (i) transparency of the budget, (ii) pillar of participation. This is the second year the participation pillar has been surveyed in POBI. The 2019 POBI score of the pillar of budget transparency is the score of 75 questions with 10 types of documents required to be disclosed according to the provisions of the 2015 State Budget Law and others documents according to international good practices. These 75 questions revolve around the availability, timeliness, convenience, completeness and reliability of the above budget documents. The reliability of budgeting when compared with the settlement report was first included in the scoring in POBI 2019.
The results of the POBI 2019 survey showed that the average score of provincial open budget reached 65.55/100 points, higher than the 51 points of POBI 2018 and 30.5 points of POBI 2017. By POBI 2019, there were 24 provinces that made FULL information on the state budget and only 3 provinces (Hoa Binh, Dong Thap, Lang Son) are in the LESS public. Thus, the level of publicity of the state budget of 63 provinces and cities has changed a lot compared to 2018 and 2017. Specifically:
- Availability: The level of publicity of the 2020 draft budget for submission to the Provincial People’s Council continues to be improved compared to previous years. 54 provinces made this document public in POBI 2019, compared to 47 in POBI 2018. The timeliness and completeness of the document also improved a lot compared to 2018. The number of provinces that published the draft on time increased from 29 provinces (46%) to 36 provinces (57.14%). 57/63 (equivalent to 90.48%) provinces publicized the 2018 Provincial Budget Finalization. Report for the 2020 budget estimate, despite being a non-mandatory document under the 2015 State Budget Law, has been published on the website by 14 / 63 provinces and cities.
- Completeness: The report on the implementation of the first quarter of 2019 and the first nine months of 2019 were the most publicized documents with the most complete form, with 53 provinces and cities disclosing all 3 tables of the report on implementation complying with the provisions of Circular 343/2016/TT-BTC.
- Convenience: In the 61/63 provinces and cities having the Budget Publication folder, 58 provinces have specifically divided folders by document or year and updated content. Budget documents were also easier to access and reuse for citizens, with the proportion of documents published in scanned and PDF file formats that are difficult to convert to word/excel format decreased from 73.9% in 2018 to 28.6% in 2019.
- Quang Nam, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Da Nang, Vinh Long, Hai Duong were the 5 provinces/cities with remarkable improvements and topping the POBI 2019 rankings.
“The process of disclosing provincial budgets has improved a lot, although the survey questions are more complex. We all send feedback to the provinces to consult the grading results. Most provinces respond when we send the grading results. This shows that provinces have paid more attention to the index. The grading results are the synthesis of the survey rounds and the feedback of the province”, shared Mr. Vu Sy Cuong, representative of the POBI 2019 research team.
However, the results of the citizen participation pillar indicate that, in general, provinces DO NOT QUITE creat favorable conditions for public participation in the budget transparency process: 8/63 provinces responded to POBI 2019 team’s email request for information. The citizens’ participation pillar scores based on the public of some documents of the People’s Council meeting on the provincial portal/website – these documents represent the participation of the elected body in budget management. The addition of this content in the survey was based on international good practices and provisions of the Law on Access to Information.
“POBI 2019 shows the interest and efforts of local units in budget disclosure and the close supervision of ministries and central agencies, including the Ministry of Finance. We greatly appreciate the role of the organizations that carry out the assessment. POBI is a very important tool to help localities self-measure the level of budget transparency and publicity and thereby see the role and responsibility of the locality in the implementation of budget transparency”, according to Ms. Dinh Thi Mai Anh, Head of Budget Management Department, Department of State Budget, Ministry of Finance.
Mr. Mai Xuan Van, representative of Quang Nam Department of Finance shared: “The province has learned from the results in previous years. The Department of Finance’s Department of Budget Management shall coordinate with the Informatics Department to jointly build a budget report with words that are easy for the public to understand. The budget must express the core of the estimate and settlement so that the public can understand. Thanks to the consultation of the POBI research team, Quang Nam has successfully developed the Citizens Budget Report”.
Sharing his perspective on POBI 2019, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Head of VCCI’s Legal Department said: “The average index of POBI Provincial Open Budget Index 2019 reached 65.55/100 points, although this rate is higher than that of 2018 (51 points), but it also showed that there is still a lot of room for reform to improve publicity and transparency.”
On that basis, provinces and cities are fully capable of continuing to improve the level of budget disclosure with a more proactive and responsible spirit, in order to ensure budget efficiency and an appropriate mechanism for the citizen participation in budget management.
Conference documents:
The POBI (Provincial Open Budget Index) is the first survey in Vietnam on the degree of provincial budget disclosure since 2017. The 2019 POBI survey is the third consecutive year of the Budget Transparency Alliance (BTAP) implemented, within the framework of the project “Promoting publicity, transparency and people’s participation in state budget management”, with funding from Oxfam in Vietnam.
CDI Vietnam.