The Ministry of Finance has announced that a recent report by DeCode, an economic and financial consultancy, has highlighted Egypt's positive progress in international transparency, budget oversight, and public participation indicators over the past two years. The report, part of the 2023 Global Transparency Survey, was published by the International Budget Partnership (IBP). The Ministry said the report reflects its extensive efforts over the past nine years to enhance transparency and financial disclosure frameworks. The Ministry's Transparency and Community Participation Unit has enriched its reports by disseminating more accessible information on the medium-term budget framework, clarifying the downward trend of debt, sources of funding, interest payments, and more, the ministry said in a statement released Saturday. Egypt has advanced six points in the 2023 Open Budget Survey, published in May 2024, ranking 63rd out of 125 countries. The country scored 49 points in financial transparency and data availability, up from 43 points in 2021, surpassing the global average of 47 points. Egypt also saw a significant jump in the Public Participation Index, rising by 16 percentage points to score 35/100, up from 19/100 in 2021. This achievement places Egypt above the global average, ranking eighth worldwide and first in the Middle East for the second consecutive year, followed by Jordan and Morocco. Furthermore, Egypt scored 54 percentage points in financial oversight, exceeding the global average for the first time. The report highlighted the importance of continuing to publish remaining reports according to global timelines, presenting public expenditures by functional classification, updating debt component information in the monthly financial report, making program and performance budgets publicly available, and submitting them to Parliament for approval. It also suggested improving the comprehensiveness of data in the semi-annual report on economic and financial performance. The report emphasised that participatory budgeting is an institutional tool to ensure effective public participation, raise awareness, and empower youth, women, and people with disabilities. Transparency is a crucial driver for community engagement in economic and social development efforts. Egypt's advancements in financial oversight are attributed to the formation of financial oversight committees and specialised committees, organising public hearings, conducting field visits to local administration units, and receiving inquiries from citizens to monitor on-the-ground implementation. For the first time, the Central Auditing Organisation Report was published as part of efforts to improve Egypt's ranking in budget oversight indicators. The report also mentioned that Egypt's participatory budgeting experience was included in the national initiative for a participatory model as a case study in the global report of the 2023 Open Budget Survey. The rapid expansion of this initiative has reached governorates like Assiut and Beni Suef, following its success in Alexandria and Fayoum. DeCode has urged the Ministry of Finance to enhance mechanisms for public engagement during the budget preparation and implementation stages, involve additional governorates in the national participatory budgeting model, and provide citizens with opportunities to participate in sectoral budget preparation and implementation initiatives led by relevant ministers. The report also suggested allowing the public or civil society to testify during public hearings on budget proposals and the Central Auditing Organization's report and establishing formal mechanisms to enable public contributions to relevant oversight investigations. The report pointed out that "budget transparency" clarifies how government resources are collected and spent, while"public participation" allows citizens to voice their opinions on improving spending priorities. The Open Budget Survey assesses the formal opportunities available to citizens to participate in various stages of the budget process and examines practices using 18 balanced indicators, aligning with the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency's principles of public participation in financial policies. It also noted that budget oversight includes the legislative body, which shapes and scrutinises budget options, and regulatory bodies that assess the legality, efficiency, and effectiveness of public spending. The Open Budget Survey also evaluates the laws and practices involved in legislative and regulatory budget oversight. Ana Patricia, Executive Director of the International Budget Partnership (IBP), commented that budgets reflect a country's priorities, and the numbers represent the ranking of expenditure items and categories. She added that the"Budget Transparency" report is the world's only independent and regular measure of budget transparency, accountability, and oversight, which positively impacts the indicators of a safe investment environment for international institutions. She further explained that the IBP, in collaboration with civil society, measures budget transparency levels in various countries through the biennial Open Budget Survey (OBS). The organisation also assesses the degree of public participation opportunities in the budget preparation process and the strength of official oversight bodies, including the legislative authority and regulatory agencies, with the Central Auditing Organization at the forefront. DeCode, the local partner responsible for research in the Open Budget Survey in Egypt, prepared the national survey to ensure the objectivity and credibility of the results. The organisation also facilitated constructive dialogue leading to a more comprehensive, balanced, and realistic vision.
