The budget is one of the most strategic policy documents enshrining government priorities and objectives. The budget is also the means for parliament, citizens and non-government organisations to hold the government to account for its use of resources. Increasing transparency in the use of public funds is crucial to fostering responsibility and integrity as well promoting an open and inclusive budget process. Transparent and inclusive budgeting can also support better fiscal outcomes and promote better public sector performance through more responsive, impactful and equitable public policies. As highlighted in the OECD Toolkit on Budget Transparency (2017), “there are various definitions of budget transparency and fiscal transparency, but they can all be summarised in one core concept: budget transparency means being fully open with people about how public money is raised and used.”
The national budget in SEA and OECD countries make available different types of budget information to the public. All SEA countries and all OECD countries in the Asia and Pacific region publish the approved budget. The majority of SEA countries also publish the budget proposal (60%) and the budget circular (70%).
Unlike OECD countries, where the practice is common (85%, including all OECD countries in the Asia and Pacific region), only half of the SEA countries release the underlying methodology and economic assumptions of the fiscal projections supporting the budget. Sensitivity analyses are published by few SEA countries (30%), whereas 73% of OECD countries publish them. The situation of the OECD countries in the Asia and Pacific region is similar: three out of four countries publish sensitivity analyses of fiscal and/or macroeconomic models. While these assumptions and analyses are often technical and complex in nature, they represent an essential component of the budget, as their matching with reality affects fiscal performance and the future credibility of government.
Eight out of ten SEA countries produce documents on the long-term perspective on total revenue and expenditure, although only the Philippines have currently made them publicly available. The majority of OECD countries (73%), however, produce long-term projections that are publicly available.
Citizens’ budgets, or citizens’ guides to the budget, allow governments to explain in plain language the objectives of the budget and provide key information. By helping citizens and non-government organisations to understand the budgeting process and to assess its impact on their own circumstances, citizens’ budgets promote inclusiveness and government accountability. Currently, 80% of the countries in the SEA region indicated that they produce and publish citizens’ budgets, compared to 63% in OECD countries.
