Analysis

The Minister of Finance of Georgia, Ivane Machavariani, on air on POS TV, stated (from minute 30): “Georgia’s budget transparency index is one of the highest.”

The Open Budget Survey is published by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) and aims to assess the transparency of budget processes in different countries. The survey results are based on a questionnaire consisting 228 questions, compiled mostly by researchers from the country’s civil society (for instance: International Transparency). There are 109 indicators in total used in the survey. The survey aims to evaluate the performance of a government in terms of the timely publication of eight primary budget documents (a country’s primary data and main directions, the draft state budget, budget law, citizen budget guidelines, state budget quarterly fulfilment reports, state budget six-month fulfilment report and the state budget 12-month fulfilment report) and whether or not the information given in these documents is comprehensive.

Georgia garnered 81 points out of 100 in the 2019 Open Budget Survey index and ranks 5th among the 117 countries.

As illustrated by the table, Georgia’s ranking points demonstrate improving trends, increasing from 34 to 81 in 2006-2019. Therefore, Georgia’s trend of changes in ranking positions has also been positive. In 2006, Georgia was ranked 30th among 40 countries whilst it ranks the 5th out of 117 countries according to the 2019 survey and only lags behind New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and Mexico.