Zimbabwe makes significant budgetary transparency strides
ZIMBABWE has significantly improved its rankings in budget transparency and inclusiveness as it has been ranked third in Sub-Saharan Africa by the Open Budget Survey (OBS) and is among the top performers consistently enhancing budget transparency between 2017 and 2023.
The progress reflects the Government’s commitment to restoring public trust and enhancing democratic engagement, Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube said on Thursday.
The OBS is the world’s only independent, comparative and fact-based research that uses internationally accepted criteria to assess public access to central government budget information, formal opportunities for the public to participate in the national budget process, and the role of budget oversight institutions such as the legislature and auditor in the budget process.
The survey is conducted and published after every two years to assess public participation, legislative and Supreme Audit Institutions oversight and transparency in national budget processes across more than 125 countries. It is the only comparative assessment of its kind worldwide. Prof Ncube said the country has made significant improvement in its rankings for budget transparency and inclusiveness, as announced by the Open Budget Survey (OBS) on May 29th, 2024.
” With a score of 63 out of 100, Zimbabwe joins 33 other countries that scored between 61 and 80. This places the country on the 30th position out of the 125 countries assessed. Zimbabwe has made significant improvements in its rankings for budget transparency and inclusiveness as it ranked third in Sub-Saharan Africa as is among the top performers that have consistently improved their budget transparency between 2017 and 2023 and it signifies the Government’s efforts to rebuild public trust and strengthen democratic engagement,” said Prof Ncube.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe ranks third, following South Africa and Benin, said the minister. “Notably, Zimbabwe is among the top performers that have consistently improved their budget transparency between 2017 and 2023,” added the minister.
Section 141 of the Constitution requires that Parliament facilitates public involvement in the national budget process. In recent years, Parliament has been conducting the national budget consultations countrywide to promote transparency and accountability by gathering people’s views and aspirations on the National Budget.
It is through the national budget that the citizens, private sector, financial institutions, and the Government, among other economic agencies, interact in pursuit of national objectives and goals. The latest ranking reflects an improvement from 59 out of 100 recorded in 2021, and positions Zimbabwe 18 points above the global average of 45 out of 100.
“Encouragingly, Zimbabwe’s Open Budget index (OBI) has shown a positive trend since 2019. The improvement in budget transparency signifies the Government’s efforts to rebuild public trust and strengthen democratic engagement, which are crucial for creation of equitable, just, and sustainable societies.
“This aligns with the engagement and re-engagement pillar of the NDS1, and contributes to attracting more funding for the country’s development from the international community Including Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
He noted that the country’s improvement is testament to the collaboration through technical and financial assistance from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) that have continuously supported capacity building efforts to improve the comprehensiveness of budget documents and enhance citizen participation in the budgeting process.-chroncile
