Gaps remains in State budget disclosure policy, implementation: Research
The legal provisions related to State budget disclosure, accountability and people's participation in state management and the budget cycles are relatively complete, but there is still a number of gaps between legal documents and their actual implementation, according to research on the policies of State budget disclosure and engagement in the budget cycle.
Some participants in the conference held in Hanoi on August 29 (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The legal provisions related to Statebudget disclosure, accountability and people's participation in statemanagement and the budget cycles are relativelycomplete, but there is still a number of gaps between legal documents and theiractual implementation, according to research on the policies of State budget disclosure and engagement in the budgetcycle.
The research results were announced at a conferenceheld in Hanoi on August 29, collecting and analysing data from a number oflocalities across the country based on their Provincial Open Budget Index(POBI), Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), and ProvincialCompetitiveness Index (PCI).
The results will be used as a reference for the amendmentof the Law on State Budget 2015.
Pham Van Long, a representative of the research team, saidthat in some localities like Dien Bien and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, improvements and good practices in budget disclosure are limited to the provincial level,mainly due to competitive pressure on the indicators.
The difference in budget disclosure practices between thetwo provinces is more evident at the district and commune levels and in thevillages/hamlets/population groups/residential areas, he said.
Nguyen Duc Thanh, the founder of the Vietnam Centre for Economicand Strategic Studies (VESS) and head of the research team, pointed to alack of a transparency culture in which publicity andtransparency is a need for the people and obvious obligation for the government.
He recommended the strengthening of publicity andtransparency of State budget at lower levels, initially the district one.
Nguyen Quang Thuong, Director of the Centre for Developmentand Integration (CDI), said that the People's Committees and Departments ofFinance of provinces with good practice in budget publicity need to spread thespirit and culture of transparency to the district and commune levels to ensurethat budget information is fully declared according to regulations.
Public policy analyst Do Thi Thanh Huyen from UNDP Vietnamsaid that narrowing the gap in State budget administration is necessary,as is ensuring the right of citizens to access information and participate in discussion,inspection and supervision of State budget revenues and expenditures in all levels.In addition, monitoring the implementation of publicity of State budgetinformation and documents will help the local administrations better comply with theimplementation of policies and laws related to budget disclosure and ensure a citizen's right to participate in the State budget cycle, the expertunderscored./.
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Some participants in the conference held in Hanoi on August 29 (Photo: VNA) 
