Finally, a Study on Where We Stand Well

Croatia ranks 22nd according to the budget openness index in 2011 and 2012 in a study conducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities from Washington.

The openness of the Croatian budget and related items received a score of 61 out of a possible 100, placing Croatia finally in the upper tier in some research. This is an increase of 4 points compared to the study published for the period 2009/10. The average for 100 countries where the research was conducted is 43 points, with the leaders being New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
– This is one study where we stand well, and we are above Eastern European countries, but we still lag behind Western European countries and the USA. Progress is noticeable, but it is slow. Budget openness is essential for public inclusion, and it requires greater accountability in the public sector. This is also related to more efficient public administration, but it has also been important for credit ratings and investors – said Katarina Ott from the Institute of Public Finance, which presented this research.
For greater budget openness, political will is required because all data contributing to this is already known to the Ministry of Finance, but they are not available to the public. Among the countries in the region, Slovenia ranks best with 74 points, followed by Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Serbia ranks the lowest. The Institute of Public Finance suggests that the budget for citizens should be published again, which simply describes the main determinants of the state budget

– This way, it would be clearer to citizens where the money is spent, and they could influence it with their requests. The government should also consult with parliamentary representatives already in the phase of determining budget priorities, and there should also be a specialized office in the Parliament for analyzing the budget – added Mihaela Bronić from the IJF.
It is positive that there are more parts where the budget is fully open, but it is concerning that there is an increase in data that is published only to fulfill formality, rather than to be open to the public. This will need to be addressed by the government if they want their openness to receive even more points.