Nguyen Duc Thanh, director of the VESS, speaking in his keynote speech. (Photo: VNA) The data was published in the 2021 Provincial Open Budget Index (POBI),announced at a ceremony in Hanoi on September 28 by the Budget Transparency,Accountability, and Participation (BTAP) Alliance, the Centre for Developmentand Integration (CDI), and the Vietnam Centre for Economic and StrategicStudies (VESS).
Ba Ria – Vung Tau remained at the top of the rankings with 98.59 points. QuangBinh, Khanh Hoa and Quang Ninh are the three most improved localities in therankings, while Ninh Binh, Tay Ninh and Lam Dong's performances droppedsignificantly.
POBI is based on three principles: budget transparency, accountability ofprovincial organisations, and public participation in the budget-buildingprocess.
The index aims to encourage greater transparency, accountability and managementof public finance; create positive competition between provinces; and ensurepublic trust in provincial public budget management.
Particularly in the criteria of public participation, POBI has shown thatprovinces mostly did not allow citizens to join in the budget-building process.The average score of public participation for all 63 localities is just41.8/100. Da Nang still tops the leaderboard in the criteria, whereas Dak Nong hasthe worst record with only 8.3 points.
In the accountability criteria, the average score of all 63 localities is 48.2out of 100, with 41 localities (65.08%) publicising their plan to assess andmanage the budget.
"We are seeing more localities publicise their budgets," said Nguyen DucThanh, director of the VESS. He add: "There are 31 localities that fullymade their budget public, four more than in 2020."
The report also perceived that most localities that have good budget practicestend to continue these good habits, such as Vung Tau, Vinh Long, Da Nang, Cao Bang,and Lai Chau.
"We hope that localities become more and more serious in publicisingbudget plans according to the rule of law," said Thanh.
Nguyen Quang Thuong, director of BTAP, said the fact that there were five localitiesthat have a POBI index of 91 or higher has shown that the publicising of thebudget according to the 2015 Law on State Budget can be achieved.
"In the future, the localities that have not fully publicised their budgetneed to do so completely," said Thuong. "Agencies and individuals whodid not complete their tasks in publicising budgets must be reprimanded,"he added.
At the conference, delegates also recommended localities soon make publicdocuments relating to the 2015 Law on State Budget and the 2016 Law onInformation Access.
Localities should also keep improving their performance in budget publication.They should also provide email addresses for the public so that all citizenscan join in the conversation and contribute to the public budget-buildingprocess./.
VNA
