District-level State budget disclosure remains insufficient: report

The research team has found that that the average district budget disclosure score nationwide was 21.93 out of 100 points, corresponding to a 'low' level of disclosure. — VNS Photo Khánh Dương

HÀ NỘI — The implementation of State budget disclosure at the district level in Việt Nam in 2023 remains insufficient, limiting public engagement in the budgeting process, a reported released on Thursday has found.

The review of district budget disclosures for 2023 revealed that the average district budget disclosure score nationwide was 21.93 out of 100 points, corresponding to a 'low' level of disclosure.

The report, 'Review of District Budget Disclosure in 2023 and Case Studies of Budget Disclosure in Public Educational Institutions in Lạng Sơn and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu provinces', was jointly conducted by the Vietnam Center for Economic and Strategic Studies, the Centre for Development and Integration Social Enterprise and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Việt Nam.

Out of 705 districts nationwide, only 12 or 1.7 per cent were rated as having 'good' disclosure practices (scoring between 75 and 100 points).

Meanwhile, 272 districts (38.6 per cent) had 'low' levels of disclosure (scoring below 25 points).

It was noted that 168 districts (23.8 per cent of total) did not disclose any budget documents at all.

Budget documents that were disclosed often failed to meet standards of availability, timeliness, completeness, accessibility and continuity. Only 13.6 per cent of districts disclosed the draft 2024 district budget estimates in a timely manner, leaving insufficient time for citizens, businesses and other stakeholders to review and contribute their feedback, said the report.

Based on the findings, the report offers numerous policy and practical recommendations for relevant authorities and sectors to consider in order to strengthen transparency in public financial management and uphold citizens' rights to monitor public budgets.

Representative of the research team, Nguyễn Quang Thương, recommended that 705 district people’s committees must adhere to budget disclosure regulations, ensuring that all required budget contents be posted timely on their portals/webpages.

The Việt Nam Fatherland Front committees at the district level should actively fulfil their oversight role concerning the State budget, with particular emphasis on budget disclosure, he said.

He proposed the review of district budget transparency should be continued in the coming years, progressing towards the development of a District Open Budget Index (DOBI).

The establishment of a DOBI will contribute to enhancing the transparency of district budget documents, ensuring adherence to the Constitution and Vietnamese regulations regarding budget transparency across all levels of government.

Đỗ Thanh Huyền, a public policy analyst at UNDP in Việt Nam, said: “As the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) shows a low percentage of citizens aware of or informed of local budget and expenditure information, we have started looking into why by reviewing if district governments have pulled and posted their commune and district budget planning online on their government portals.

“With more than 90 per cent of Vietnamese citizens having smartphones, local governments have an opportunity to proactively disclose and promptly deliver the budget information online on time as stipulated in related laws and regulations,” she said.

The report results are expected to serve as a basis to improve the State budget governance and make recommendations for the amendments of the State budget law, she said.

Former Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee Bùi Đặng Dũng said:  "As I observed, this has been the first research conducted on a large scale on the budget disclosure at the district level. The report helps citizens know how their taxes have been spent.

“I have also observed that the penalties on those that fail to meet legal requirements for budget disclosure has not been tightened. We see that there are districts without any budget disclosure. Relevant punishments must be imposed on those cases,” he said.

“Only when we disclose State budget at all levels, can we fight against corruption and negative phenomena and meet voters’ expectations.”

Agreeing with the proposal of stiffening penalties, Nguyễn Minh Tân, deputy director of Finance and Budget Department, Office of the National Assembly, said: “We must step up information dissemination on State budget disclosure instruction at the grassroots levels. Those who fail to disclose the budget this year might have their estimated budget for the following year subtracted.” — VNS