Construction underway on the 98.35km Cam Lộ-La Sơn section between Quảng Ngãi and Thừa Thiên-Huế Province of the eastern part of the north-south expressway, which used Government bonds for budget. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Open Budget Survey (OBS) 2019 from the International Budget Partnership (IBP) ranks Việt Nam 77th out of 117 countries around the world, up 14 places against the previous survey in 2017.

The OBS is the world’s only independent and comparative assessment of the three pillars of public budget accountability – transparency, oversight, and public participation – and been conducted by IBP biannually since 2006, in a bid to assess the public's access to information on how the central government raises and spends public resources.

Việt Nam’s budget transparency scored 38 out of 100, the highest the country ever made since 2010, marking an increase of 23 points compared to 2017. The average score globally was 45.

Việt Nam scored 11 out of 100 for public participation and 74 out of 100 for budget oversight, up four points and two points, respectively, from 2017.

Việt Nam increased the availability of budget information by publishing the Executive’s Budget Proposal, the Citizens Budget, and the Audit Report online and increasing the information provided in the In-Year Reports.

The language used in the Citizens Budget report was viewed as simple and easy for people to understand, thus increasing their participation in budget allocation and monitoring.

The country has so far published online seven out of eight budget documents: the Pre-Budget Statement, the Executive’s Budget Proposal, the Enacted Budget, the Citizens Budget, In-Year Reports, the Year-End Report, and the Audit Report, in a timely manner.

To improve budget transparency, IBP suggested that Việt Nam should include information like anticipated borrowing and debt for the upcoming year in its pre-budget statement, produce and publish a Mid-Year review online, and include government’s financial statement in the Year-End report. — VNS