Eswatini scores low in budget survey

MBABANE – Eswatini scored low in offering formal opportunities to the public’s meaningful participation in the different stages of the budget process.

This was according to the Open Budget Survey (OBS) 2021 which was launched virtually by the International Budget Partnership on Tuesday. The survey revealed that Eswatini scored two out of 100.

It was stated that the OBS examined the practices of the central government’s executive, the legislature and the supreme audit institution (SAI) using 18 equally weighted indicators, aligned with the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency’s Principles of Public Participation in Fiscal Policies and scored each country on a scale from zero to 100.

Strengthen

Due to these scores, the survey therefore recommended that, for Eswatini to further strengthen public participation in the budget process, the country’s ministry of Finance should prioritise the following actions: Pilot mechanisms to engage the public during budget formulation and to monitor budget implementation, actively engage with vulnerable and underrepresented communities, directly or through civil society organizations representing them.

It was further recommended that in as much as Eswatini’s Parliament had established public hearings related to the review of the Audit Report, they should also prioritise the following actions: Allow members of the public or civil society organisations to testify during its hearings on the budget proposal prior to its approval, allow any member of the public or any civil society organisation to testify during its hearings on the Audit Report.

It was also recommended that Eswatini’s Office of the Auditor General should prioritise the following actions to improve public participation in the budget process: Establish formal mechanisms for the public to assist in developing its audit programme and to contribute to relevant audit investigations. The survey further measured public access to information on how the central government raises and spent public resources. It assesses the online availability, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of eight key budget documents using 109 equally weighted indicators and score each country on a scale of zero to 100.

According to the survey, a transparency score of 61 or above indicates a country is likely publishing enough material to support informed public debate on the budget.

Eswatini has a transparency score of 31 (out of 100) and Eswatini’s transparency score of 31 in the OBS 2021 was largely the same as its score in 2019.

It was stated that Eswatini has increased the availability of budget information by publishing the citizens budget and mid-year review online.

Revealed

However, it was revealed that Eswatini has decreased the availability of budget information by producing the enacted budget, in hard copy but not making it available online.

It was therefore recommended that Eswatini should prioritise the following actions to improve budget transparency: Publish the pre-budget statement, enacted budget, in-year reports and year-end report online in a timely manner; include in the Executive’s Budget Proposal data on the financial position of the government and information on performance and policy.

It was stated that the Executive’s Budget Proposal should include an analysis that shows the impact of different macroeconomic assumptions on estimates of expenditures, revenue, and debt (i.e., sensitivity analysis).

It was further recommended that the country needed to improve the comprehensiveness of the citizens budget and mid-year review. The OBS further examined the role that legislatures and supreme audit institutions (SAIs) play in the budget process and the extent to which they provide oversight; each country was scored on a scale from zero to 100 based on 18 equally weighted indicators. In addition, the survey collects supplementary information on independent fiscal institutions.

“The legislature and supreme audit institution in Eswatini, together, provide limited oversight during the budget process, with a composite oversight score of 41 (out of 100),” reads the survey.