Bangladesh’s position in budget transparency falling

Bangladesh's score for budget transparency has been lodged in a downward spiral ever since 2012 as official documents regarding the annual national plan and public works are not published in due time, according to a survey released yesterday. 

The country's budget transparency score stood at 30 in 2021, down from 58 in 2012, 47 in 2017 and 36 in 2019, as per Open Budget Survey 2021 conducted by International Budget Partnership (IBP).

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"Budget openness helps tackle corruption, reduce waste and improve efficiency and effectiveness in public spending," said M Abu Eusuf, a professor of development studies at the University of Dhaka.

For example, budget openness helps match public resources with national priorities and builds trust in the government, the report says.

Eusuf, also executive director of the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID), made this comment while giving a presentation on the survey at a webinar organised by the IBP and RAPID.

Budget openness helps tackle corruption, reduce waste and improve efficiency and effectiveness in public spending

Referring to the survey, Eusuf said official documents such as quarterly implementation reports were not made available on the finance ministry's website within the timeframe stipulated by rules in this regard.

Planning Minister MA Mannan said his ministry instantly disseminates all relevant information regarding projects approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council through an electronic board.

However, he stressed on the need to increase transparency and accountability in development projects through the participation of local people at the district and upazila levels.

Mannan also said documents regarding the national budget should be more open to the public.

Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, said such documents should be instantly uploaded to the web so that people from all parts of the country could stay informed.

"Doing a good job will only go so far in terms of building a positive image and so, transparency and accountability should be maintained in all stages," he added.

Sayema Haque Bidisha, a professor of economics at the University of Dhaka, stressed on the need for monitoring and evaluation in implementation to find challenges and address weakness in the next national plan.

Mustafa Murshed, deputy secretary to the finance division, said the capacity of ministries to implement the budget has improved along with the dissemination of budget documents.

However, he said, it takes time to upload the documents as they have to crosscheck the information.

The event was moderated by RAPID Chairman MA Razzaque.