«Budget Transparency» is the only globally independent indicator. It is reflected in raising the indicators of the safe investment environment at international institutions.

- DCode: The remarkable improvement in the indicators of the International Budget Partnership (IBP) is the result of the great efforts of the Ministry of Finance over a period of 9 years to develop transparency frameworks and financial disclosure.

The Transparency and Community Engagement Unit at the Ministry of Finance is enriched with simplified information on the medium-term budgetary framework, debt situation, sources of funding and interest payments.

Egypt advanced 6 points in the "Open Budget Survey" of 2023 and exceeds the global average in "Fiscal Transparency and Data Availability"

Egypt exceeds the global average in "public participation" and ranks eighth in the world and first in the Middle East for the second year consecutively.

"The Egyptian Experience of Participatory Budgeting" is a model for the case study in the Global Report of the Open Budget Survey for 2023.

Rapid deployment in the governorates of the National Model Initiative for Participatory Budgeting to Assiut and Beni Suef after its success in Alexandria and Fayoum.

«Budget Transparency» explains how to collect government resources expenditure; The "Public Participation" allows citizens to express their opinions and the "Open Budget Survey" evaluates opportunities to participate in the "Budget".

Anna Patricia, Executive Director of the International Budget Partnership (IBP): Budgets reflect the priorities of the state. The numbers reflect the order of the first items and categories of spending

 

 

 

“Dcode Economic & Financial Consulting», shedding light on the positive development of Egypt in the international indicators of transparency, budget control and public participation during the past two years, in its report issued several days ago, on the session of the Global Transparency Survey for 2023, as the local partner responsible for research for the Open Budget Survey in Egypt, which undertook the preparation of the survey at the national level to ensure the objectivity and credibility of the results as well as the establishment of a constructive dialogue that leads to a more comprehensive, balanced and realistic vision.

 

The report pointed out that the remarkable improvement in these indicators issued by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) is the result of great efforts by the Ministry of Finance over a period of 9 years to develop transparency and financial disclosure frameworks, especially since the Transparency and Community Participation Unit has enriched its reports by publishing more simplified information about the medium-term budget framework while clarifying the status of debt on the downward path, various sources of funding and interest payments, etc., stressing that in order to ensure continued progress in transparency indicators, the rest of the reports must be published at the times specified globally, presenting public expenditures according to the functional division, updating information on debt components in the monthly financial report, making the budget of programs and performance available to the public and presenting it to Parliament for approval, and improving the comprehensiveness of data in the semi-annual report on economic and financial performance.

 

The report added that Egypt advanced 6 points in the cycle of the Open Budget Survey for 2023, published in May 2024, to rank 63^rd out of 125 countries, and achieved 49 points in the field of financial transparency and data availability compared to 43 points in 2021, to exceed the global average of 47 points. It also jumped in the public participation index, by about 16 percentage points, to achieve 35/100 rises from 19/100 in 2021, and to exceed the global average, ranking eighth globally, and first in the Middle East for the second consecutive year, followed by Jordan and Morocco. It also scored 54 percentage points in the field of financial control, to exceed for the first time the global average, pointing out that participatory budgeting is an institutional tool to ensure effective public participation to raise awareness and empower youth, women and people with special needs. Transparency is an important, motivating and enhancing tool for community participation in economic and social development efforts.

 

The report pointed out that the progress made by Egypt in the indicator on public participation is due to the Ministry of Finance's use of mechanisms to enable the public, especially women and people of special needs of participation during the stages of preparing the state budget to formulate, implement, follow up and control the budget, and expand coordination with the localities and the general authorities of the governorates in holding public hearings in the governorates of Alexandria and Fayoum. Egypt's achievements in the field of financial control were also the result of the formation of financial control committees and specialized committees, holding public hearings, organizing field visits to local administration units and receiving briefing requests from citizens, to monitor what has been already implemented, and publishing the report of the Central Auditing Organization for the first time, within the framework of working to improve the ranking of the budget control indicator.

 

The report explained the inclusion of the Egyptian experience of the participatory budget in the national initiative of the participatory model as an example to be followed to study the situation in the global report of the open budget Survey for 2023, pointing to the rapid spread in the governorates of the initiative of the national model of the participatory budget up to Assiut and Beni Suef after its success in Alexandria and Fayoum. The Foundation called on the Ministry of Finance to work to increase the dissemination mechanisms at the stage of preparing and implementing the budget, and to involve other governorates in the national model of the participatory budget, and to provide opportunities for citizens to participate in the preparation and implementation of the sectoral budget at the initiative of the concerned ministers, and to allow members of the public or civil society to testify during the public hearings on the budget proposal and the report of the Central Auditing Organization, and to establish official mechanisms to enable the public to contribute to the relevant regulatory investigations.

 

The report pointed out that "budget transparency" clarifies how government resources are collected and spent, while "public participation" allows citizens to express their views on ways to improve spending priorities. The "Open Budget Survey" evaluates the official opportunities available to citizens to participate in the various stages of the budget process and examines the practices conducted using 18 balanced indicators, in line with the principles of public participation in the financial policies of the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency, pointing out that budget control includes the legislative body, which formulates and scrutinizes budget options, and the supervisory bodies that evaluate the legitimacy, efficiency and effectiveness of public spending. The "Open Budget Survey" also evaluates the laws and practices involved in legislative and regulatory oversight of the budget.

 

Anna Patricia, executive director of the International Budget Partnership (IBP), said that budgets reflect the priorities of the state, and the figures reflect the order of the items and categories most eligible for spending.

 

It should be noted that the "Budget Transparency" report is the only independent and regular global indicator to measure budget transparency, accountability and control throughout the world, which is reflected in raising the indicators of the safe investment environment at international institutions. The International Budget Partnership (IBP), in cooperation with civil society, measures the level of budget transparency in various countries of the world through the Open Budget Survey (OBS), which is issued every two years. The Foundation also measures the degree of availability of opportunities for community participation in the budget preparation process, and the power of official oversight bodies: the legislative authority and the regulatory bodies in general, led by the Central Auditing Organization.

 

For more information on the report of Dcode Economic & Financial Consulting:

OBS: https://internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dcode-economic-and-financial-consulting_egypt-obs-activity-7232339298937696256-4tR5?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

https://internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey/country-results/2023/egypt

https://internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey