According to the 2021 Open Budget Survey (OBS), conducted by the International Budget Partnership [1] (IBP), Georgia got 87 points out of 100 in state budget transparency. This is an improvement compared to the 2019 survey’s result (81 points). With this indicator, Georgia took first place in the world ranking of 120 countries, while according to the results of the 2019 survey, Georgia was 5th.
The entire research process took approximately 18 months. The OBS 2021 assesses only events, activities, or developments that occurred up to 31 December 2020. Transparency International Georgia has been conducting this research for International Budget Partnership and assessing Georgia’s progress since 2012.
Drawing on internationally accepted criteria developed by multilateral organizations, the OBS uses 109 equally weighted indicators to measure budget transparency. These indicators assess whether the central government makes eight key budget documents available to the public online promptly and whether these documents present budget information in a comprehensive and useful way. The mentioned eight documents are:
Transparency alone is insufficient for improving governance. Public participation in budgeting and budget oversight are vital to realize the positive outcomes of greater budget transparency. That’s why the OBS focuses on these two issues as well. The evaluation of these two topics is not part of the Open Budget Index and is considered separately. Georgia still has challenges in terms of citizen involvement in the budget process. In particular, out of 100 possible points, Georgia received 44 points (4th place in the world) in terms of ensuring citizen participation in the budgetary process, and 74 points (21st place) in terms of budget oversight.
Despite the impressive performance, IBP proposes several recommendations for the Government of Georgia to continue improving its scores. The most important recommendations are related to better oversight of the budgetary process by the Parliament and increasing the involvement of citizens in the budgetary process.
