Open Budgets for Development By Daniel Ndirangu

The institute Open Budgets, What is it? Costed government plans that are provided and promoted publicly for accountability Costed through the budget process as defined in the laws of countries. As defined by the PFM Act 6/15/2019

Budget Transparency Promotes accountability Ensures implementation efficiency Monitoring development Enhancing credibility of implementation. 6/15/2019

Key findings in OBS 2017 Declines in budget transparency were most dramatic in Sub-Saharan Africa, Average budget transparency scores fell by 11 points between 2015 and 2017. Other regions experienced small increases or small declines in their scores, Exception of Asia, where the average score rose more substantially. A number of countries have experienced significant gains in transparency since they were first included in the survey Georgia, Jordan, Mexico and Senegal. 6/15/2019

a) Budget Transparency OBS assesses budget transparency based on the amount and timeliness of budget information governments are making publicly available. Each country is given a score between 0 and 100 that determines its ranking on the open budget index. 6/15/2019

b) Public participation OBS measures public participation in the budget process by assessing the opportunities governments are providing to civil society and the public to engage in decisions about how public resources are raised and spent 6/15/2019

c) Public participation Evaluates the role of formal oversight institutions, such as supreme audit institutions and legislatures. OBS measures Budget Oversight by Legislatures and Audit Institutions considering whether legislatures have adequate oversight practices. 6/15/2019

How can we measure open budgets? Use of Open Budget Survey the world’s only independent, comparative assessment of the three pillars of public budget accountability: transparency, oversight and public participation 115 countries in OBS 2017 6/15/2019

Kenya performance – OBS 2017 6/15/2019

Open Budget Index- Kenya 6/15/2019

Importance of Open Budgets Open budgets are central to achievement of SDGS: two Key mentions: Addis Ababa Action Agenda: which provides the framework on financing of SDGS through transparent budgets Sustainable Development Goals No 16 and 17 (recognition of open budgets); 6/15/2019

Transparency and Development Reduced fiscal deficit Decreased information asymmetry And strengthening enforcement of fiscal rules Increased government spending on priorities 6/15/2019

Information asymmetry Results to; Unrealistic expenditure and revenue mobilization targets Concealed government spending Undocumented expenditures- Pending bills Transparency increase the likelihood of having credible and reliable budget Citizens evaluate budget performance 6/15/2019

What can Kenya do to improve? Parliament hearings should be sufficient in budget formulation OAG should have formal mechanism for engaging with public Treasury should engage more with public on formulation and on implementation Parliament should look at implementation reports and publish their findings Treasury should make Mid year report publicly available 6/15/2019

The institute Conclusion Budget transparency remains limited around the world, with many governments failing to publish key documents. Vast majority of countries in the survey could quickly improve transparency by making documents they already producing publicly available. 6/15/2019

Conclusion Even where documents are available, basic information that many citizens would likely wish to have on sector spending, budget implementation, and the goals and outcomes of spending are missing in most national budgets. 6/15/2019

Conclusion Open budgets play a crucial role in the development Agenda; By making budget documents publicly available and enhancing public engagement across OAG, Parliament and Executive, Kenya can improve its transparency score 6/15/2019