Palestine receives low scores in the Open Budget Survey

Ramallah - Together - For the ninth time in a row, the International Budget Partnership Foundation issued, on May 29, 2024, the Open Budget Survey, which covered 125 countries around the world, including Palestine, which was included in the survey for the first time, in cooperation with the Aman Coalition. The survey is the only independent and comparative evaluation in the world in the field of transparency, oversight, and participation in the preparation of public budgets, as it aims to help local civil society evaluate its government and consult with it regarding reporting and how to use public funds. The evaluation in Palestine examined published documents, events, activities and developments that occurred as of December 31, 2022, presenting findings and recommendations in light of the deteriorating humanitarian situation and the war of extermination that is still occurring in Gaza. In the 'Transparency' item, Palestine received a score of 8 out of 100. The 'Transparency' part of the Open Budget Survey measures the public's access to information related to how the central government increases and spends public resources, assessing the availability, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of eight basic budget documents on the Internet. These are: the budget report, the budget proposal for the executive authority, the approved budget, the citizens' budget, annual reports, the semi-annual review, the end-of-year report, and the audited report. In this regard, the survey released some recommendations as priorities for improving budget transparency in Palestine, most notably: publishing the budget report online in a timely manner, at least one month before submitting the budget proposal, and continuing to publish the approved budget and the citizen's budget on the Internet within the specified deadlines (the budget is considered Citizen version of the budget with accessible content that is easily accessible and understood by ordinary people). In addition to producing and publishing the executive authority budget pro posal and mid-year review online in a timely manner, the end-of-year report includes detailed actual results of expenditures, comparisons between planned non-financial results and actual results, and comparisons between original macroeconomic forecasts and actual results (annual reports are an ideal opportunity to evaluate Whether, compared to their initial budgets, countries underspend or overspend on social programs and other sectors of interest to the general public). Moreover, working to improve the comprehensiveness of reports during the year by displaying actual expenditures by program and comparisons of actual expenditures and revenues to date with the original estimates for the same period or the same period of the previous year, as well as improving the comprehensiveness of the audit report by including an executive summary. The Ministry of Finance must also publish a report on the steps it has taken to address the results of the financial audit. In measuring (public participation), Palestine receiv ed a score of zero out of 100. The Open Budget Survey (public participation) evaluates the formal opportunities available to the public for meaningful participation in the various stages of the budget process, and examines the practices of the executive branch of the central government, the legislative body, and the Supreme Audit Institution, in line with the principles of Global Initiative for Financial Transparency and Principles for Public Participation in Financial Policy. The result of the absence of (public participation) is the freezing of the work of the Palestinian Legislative Council since 2006 due to the political division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as the President issued a decision to dissolve the Palestinian Legislative Council in December 2018, which means that the budgets were not presented to the Legislative Council in the first place. The survey recommended that priority in Palestine be given to further enhancing public participation in the budget preparation process, as the Ministry of Finance should develop experimental mechanisms to engage the public during budget formulation and monitor budget implementation, and actively engage with vulnerable and underrepresented communities directly or through civil society organizations that Represent them. The survey also recommended holding elections and revitalizing the Legislative Council in order to restore normal checks and balances to the budget process. Furthermore, in the presence of a legislature, priority should be given to the following measures to improve opportunities for public participation, allowing members of the public or civil society organizations to have a say during the hearings of the budget proposal before its adoption, as well as the audit report. The Bureau of Financial and Administrative Control in Palestine should also improve public participation in the budget process, by establishing formal mechanisms for the public to assist in developing its audit program and participating in relevant audit investigations. Regarding the last item entitled (Budget Oversight), Palestine received a composite score of 17 out of 100. The open budget survey addresses the role played by legislative bodies and supreme audit institutions in the budget process and the extent to which they carry out oversight. In addition, the survey collects complementary information on independent financial institutions. The survey showed that the availability of a legislative body and the Supreme Audit Authority in Palestine constitute weak oversight through the budget process. The reasons for the low score are due to the dissolution of the Legislative Council, as the first oversight administration. The survey recommended the importance of restoring the legislative authority in order to restore the natural checks and balances of the Palestinian budget process, which must discuss budget policy before developing a budget proposal for the executive authority and adopting recommendations for the next budget. The budget proposal must be submitted from the executive authority to the legislative authority at least two months before the beginning of the fiscal year, and the legislative authority must approve the budget before the beginning of the fiscal year. Legislative committees must examine the budget proposal submitted by the executive branch, implement the budget during the year, and publish reports with their analyzes and results online. It must also be ensured that the legislative authority is consulted before the executive authority transfers funds between the administrative units specified in the budget established during the budget year, spends any unexpected revenues, or reduces expenditures due to a revenue deficit. Furthermore, the legislative committee must examine the audit report and publish the report and its findings online. The survey recommended a set of measures that would enhance independence and improve supervisory oversight by the Palestinian Audit and Administrative Oversight Bureau, where the approval of the legislative or judicial aut hority must be obtained to appoint the head of the Supreme Audit Institution, and ensure that audit operations are reviewed by an independent agency. The results of this survey confirm the recommendations of the Civil Team to support the transparency of the public budget, which called on Palestinian governments to enhance transparency and participation in preparing and implementing the public budget. The AMAN Coalition (the Civil Team Secretariat) believes that the results of this survey constitute a challenge and an opportunity for the new Palestinian government, which has announced its intention to strengthen Transparency and participation in its work. The civil society team hopes that the current government will take the results of this survey seriously and work to improve Palestine's results in the next survey. It is also necessary to restore legislative life in the Palestinian political system, hold general elections, and end the political division to confront the challenges facing the Palestinian peopl e. It is worth noting that the Open Budget Survey is conducted every two years and covers 125 countries around the world, including 7.5 billion people (95% of the world's population). The survey is the only research tool in the world that is independent, comparable, fact-based and uses internationally agreed standards to assess public access to central government budget information. Formal opportunities for the public to participate in the national budget process; The role of budget oversight institutions, such as legislative bodies and national audit offices, in the budget process itself. Source: Maan News Agency