Vietnam climbs 11 places in budget transparency ranking

Vietnam's budget transparency ranking has risen to 57th out of 125 countries in 2023, marking an improvement of 11 places compared to the 2021 assessment and a 20-place increase since 2019.

Vietnam has steadily increased its budget transparency ranking over the years. Photo: Pham Hung/The Hanoi Times

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) made the announcement, citing the results of the 2023 Open Budget Survey (OBS 2023) conducted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP).

In particular, all key pillars of budget transparency for Vietnam performed above the global average and showed improvement compared to 2021, including Budget Transparency 51/100 points (global average: 45/100, up 7 points from 2021); Public Participation: 19/100 points (global average: 15/100, up 2 points from 2021); and Budget Oversight: 82/100 points (global average: 62/100, up 2 points from 2021).

“These results underscore Vietnam's commitment to enhancing budget transparency through the availability of budget documents and the timely, accurate disclosure of budget information throughout the entire budget process. This includes the budget proposal to the National Assembly, the approved budget, the implementation status, and the final accounts approved by the National Assembly,” stated the finance ministry.

According to the MoF, efforts to diversify the content and format of public disclosures include not only detailed budget templates and figures but also comprehensive explanatory reports and citizen budget reports in the form of charts and graphics.

These are made accessible through the Ministry of Finance’s e-portal, the Budget Disclosure Portal and printed materials to help citizens better understand the budget and encourage public engagement in the budget process and oversight, it said.

The MoF highlighted three key documents with high scores in OBS 2023, including Citizen Budget Report: 100/100 points; Approved State Budget Estimates: 83/100 points; and In-Year Budget Execution Report: 78/100 points

To achieve these results, the MoF has sought public input on the draft state budget proposal before submitting it to the National Assembly and has prepared a citizen's budget report on the approved budget. The budget and its implementation are made public in a timely, accurate, and complete manner, along with the citizen budget report to facilitate public oversight.

Currently, the MoF is conducting surveys to evaluate the implementation of local budget transparency according to the 2015 State Budget Law. These surveys aim to identify challenges and gather feedback from local authorities and citizens to amend the budget transparency regulations, ensuring they are in line with both Vietnam’s context and international practices.

“The Ministry of Finance continues to welcome input and technical support from international organizations and national institutions to improve policies on public budget management and transparency,” stated the ministry, noting that these efforts are aimed at enhancing public engagement with budget information, ensuring effective and compliant public budget management and financial accountability.

The OBS is a budget transparency initiative run by the IBP in collaboration with independent civil society organizations, which has assessed over 100 countries every two years since 2006.