By Erik Lavoie
Despite progress made over the past three years, T&T’s budget accountability processes still rank below the global average, according to the International Budget Partnership (IBP).
The IBP undertakes a survey worldwide called the Open Budget Survey (OBS) every two years, the most recent being undertaken in 2023. In the IBP’s own words, the OBS “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 legislatures and national audit offices, in the budget process.”
The IBP scores the budget practices of the 125 countries surveyed on a scale of 100. It uses three metrics–budget transparency, public participation and budget oversight:
* In 2023, T&T scored a 38 in transparency, compared to the world average of 45. The publishing of a citizens’ budget for the first time resulted in a four-point improvement from a score of 34 in 2021;
* T&T scored a 9 in public participation, compared to the world average of 15. More opportunities for the public to participate in the formulation of the budget led to a two-point improvement from a score of 7 in 2021; and
* T&T scored a 37 in budget oversight, compared to the world average of 52. A slight improvement in legislative oversight of the budget led to a two-point increase from a score of 35 in 2021.
How the OBS works
Every two years, the IBP invites a budget expert, an anonymous peer reviewer, and a government official to assist with the assessment of T&T’s budget practices for the OBS. The IBP recommends soliciting three different opinions to ensure the accuracy of results. However, for over 10 years, the government has never designated an official to participate in this process. Consequently, only one peer reviewer, instead of two, participated in the survey.
Malini Maharaj, an assistant lecturer in economics at the University of the West Indies, has served as T&T’s budget expert for over a decade. For the OBS survey, she answers a set of 145 scored multiple-choice questions pertaining to budget practices, which is then sent to an anonymous peer reviewer. The peer reviewer either agrees or disagrees with the expert’s response to each question. This document, with the expert’s responses and peer reviewer’s assessments, is then sent to the IBP.
Utilising the responses from the questionnaire, the IBP then scores T&T’s budget practices. The IBP also provides constructive feedback for each country, pointing out steps that nations can take to improve their scores.
Transparency: Citizens’ budget made available
The OBS’ budget transparency metric “measures public access to information on how the central government raises and spends public resources.”
On budget transparency, T&T’s score of 38 gave it a ranking 78 out of the 125 countries assessed in the OBS. This score represents a 4-point improvement from 2021.
T&T’s improvement in budget transparency is largely attributable to the new practice of publishing a citizens’ budget, which is available on the website of the Office of the Parliament. A citizens’ budget is a document that informs citizens of the government’s budget in a simple and understandable format.
Prior to 2022, T&T did not have a publicly accessible citizens budget.
The IBP gave the newly available citizens’ budget a rating of 22 out of 100, indicating significant room for improvement in the information it conveys to the public. Furthermore, Maharaj said that the citizens’ budget may not be “accessible to all members of the public without the proper facilities to do so.”
T&T’s below-average transparency score of 38 out of 100 reflects the absence of publicly available documents considered essential to the transparency of a yearly budget process. These missing documents include pre-budget statements, in-year reports, mid-year reviews, and year-end reports. If T&T were to publish all of these documents and include the bare minimum requirements for each, its budget transparency score would likely increase by at least 14 points, yielding a transparency score greater than 51. This would place T&T above the world average in terms of budget transparency.
Public Participation: A global struggle
The OBS’ public participation metric “assesses the formal opportunities offered to the public for meaningful participation in the different stages of the budget process.”
Most countries struggle to properly engage the public in the budget formulation process, as evidenced by an average global score of 15 out of 100 for public participation. Notably, South Korea is the only country with a public participation score considered adequate (greater than 60).
Despite this low bar, T&T ranks below the global average, with a score of 9 out of 100. This is due to very limited public involvement opportunities in the formulation and approval of the budget, and no public involvement opportunities in the implementation and auditing of the budget. Nevertheless, T&T’s public participation score has improved by two points since 2021, when it scored a 7.
The two-point improvement is attributable to a greater degree of public involvement in the formulation stage of the budget process.
The IBP recommended allowing citizens to testify during e-consultations and establishing “formal mechanisms for the public to assist in developing its audit program.”
Budget Oversight: Room for improvement
The OBS’ budget oversight metric “examines the role that legislatures and supreme audit institutions (SAIs) play in the budget process and the extent to which they provide oversight.”
T&T received a score of 37 out of 100 for budget transparency in 2023, marking a 2-point improvement from 2021.
Legislative oversight was scored at 28 out of 100, with a 3-point improvement from 2021, while audit oversight scored 56 out of 100. Despite these improvements, the IBP describes the oversight of the planning and implementation stages of the budget as “weak.”
Key recommendations from the IBP include legislature debate and approval of budget policy before tabling the executive’s budget proposal, submission of the proposal two months in advance, and have legislative committees analyse and publish reports on budget proposals and implementations. IBP also recommends enhancing audit oversight by requiring legislative or judicial approval for appointing the Auditor General and ensuring independent review of audit processes.
The IBP also highlighted the value of establishing an independent financial institution (IFI), which T&T currently lacks. An IFI is a nonpartisan organisation that assists legislators in making informed and effective budget policy decisions.
