Open Budget Survey 2012

Anna Jung, Michael Thöne

IBP/ December 2021/ Survey, IBP

Abstract
The Open Budget Survey measures the state of budget transparency, participa-tion, and oversight in countries around the world. It consists of 125 questions and is completed by independent researchers in the countries assessed. Ninety-five of the questions deal directly with the public availability and comprehensiveness of the eight key budget documents that governments should publish at various points of the budget cycle. The remaining 30 ques-tions relate to opportunities for public participation in the budget process, and to the roles played by legislatures and supreme audit institutions in budget formulation and oversight. The Survey does not reflect opinion. It measures observable facts related to budget transparency, accountability, and participa-tion.Over the past two years, the IBP has worked with civil society groups and independent researchers to complete the questionnaires in the 100 countries covered by the 2012 Survey. There was a clearly defined research period (from August to December 2011) that applied to all of the countries assessed to guarantee comparability of data. To the extent possible, specific evidence — such as citations of available budget documents, provisions in laws, or inter-views with government officials or other relevant actors — was gathered and presented to support each response. The results were thoroughly vetted by two anonymous peer reviewers and by the IBP. In addition, governments were given the opportunity to comment on the draft results for their country. In order to allow for comparisons across countries and over time, the IBP calculates the Open Budget Index (OBI), a simple average of the quantified responses for the 95 Survey questions that are related to budget transparency. The OBI assigns each country a score that can range from 0 to 100.