Brazil's budget more transparent

Brazil is more transparent with the country's budget. It ranked sixth among 102 nations analyzed by the Open Budget Index 2015, released by the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) International Budget Partnership (IBP) in partnership with the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies (INESC). In the previous study from 2013, Brazil ranked 12th.

Brazil also featured in the Index this year as one of the four countries to achieve a good score across all analyzed pillars. In addition to the 77 points in budget transparency, Brazil got 80 in budget oversight by legislature institutions, 75 in oversight by audit institutions and 71 in public participation, which means that the government has provided mechanisms for participatory budgeting during the formulation of the budget. The other three countries that achieved high scores across all pillars were the United States, Norway and South Africa. 

Inesc's researcher, Carmela Zigoni, announced that a reason for Brazil to rise in the ranking was the improvement in preparing the Treasury Report on Achievement of Targets, which plans the budget and goals throughout the year. According to her, although well ranked, the country has still a long way to go. “The report itself needs to be more comprehensive and understandable”, she mentioned.

For the researcher, the Annual Budget Bill, sent to Congress every year, should also provide more information about expenses and revenues for future years, since the Multi-Year Planning of the budget (a four years forecast prepared at the beginning of each mandate) does not play well this role.

In Carmela's view, public participation is another important issue. According to her, compared with other countries, Brazil has many channels to interact with citizens, such as internet, public hearings and councils. Although Brazil is ahead of other countries, the researcher argues that it is necessary to improve public participation, especially in the local level. "We would like them to have a fixed routine and polite people to talk about the budget."

The Open Budget Index is calculated since 2006 and analyzes whether the government of each country surveyed makes the eight key budget documents public available. It also investigates whether the documents are comprehensive and useful. The best scores in 2015 were achieved by New Zealand (88 points). In second place, it was Sweden, with 87 points, and South Africa, with 86. Norway and the United States ranked fourth and fifth, respectively with 84 and 81 points.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta

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