The Launching of “PROVINCIAL PUBLIC BUDGET INDEX (POBI) 2021”

Đăng vào 30/09/2022

On the morning of September 28, 2022 in Hanoi, the Vietnam Center for Economic and Strategic Studies (VESS) in collaboration with the Center for Development and Integration (CDI) held a ceremony to announce the Provincial Budget Disclosure Index POBI 2021.

Download the results of the POBI Survey 2021 at HERE.(Vietnamese ver.)

Download the press release at HERE.(Vietnamese ver.)

Launching photos at HERE.

Live video of the Launching with presentations and opinions from experts at HERE.

At the opening ceremony, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Center for Economic and Strategic Studies (VESS) delivered the opening speech. He commented, “Through this year’s Survey (2022), it can be seen that public compliance with the provincial budget has generally continued to improve. There were 31 provinces with “adequate” disclosure, compared with 27 the previous year, and zero in the first survey year (2018). This is an encouraging step forward since the birth of the POBI Index. It is observed that provinces that have practiced good budget disclosure often continue to practice this actively (Vung Tau, Vinh Long, Da Nang, Cao Bang, Lai Chau), while there are provinces that are lack of awareness of compliance with the 2015 Budget Law, such as Ha Tinh and Binh Phuoc (continuously in the bottom quintile). There are provinces that did not comply well at first, but have strongly improved and maintained a high position, such as Hoa Binh and Lang Son. In particular, compared to the previous year, the provinces with the best improvement include: Quang Binh, Khanh Hoa, and Quang Ninh. We hope the provinces will become more and more serious about practicing publicity and transparency in the spirit of the law.”

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh gave the opening speech

Mrs. Nguyen Thu Huong, Senior Manager of Oxfarm Vietnam assessed that publicity and transparency of the budget is an indispensable requirement, ensuring the participation of people and social organizations so that they could have information to contribute ideas, help the process of using the budget effectively, close to the actual needs and expectations of the people.

“The index has been surveyed since 2018. After 5 years of implementation, the results have changed clearly. This year is the first year that the provincial budget transparency index measures the accountability of stakeholders, especially the People’s Council in monitoring the use of the provincial budget. We believe that the POBI results published today continue to provide useful and truthful information to the Government, the Ministry of Finance, and the People’s Committees of the provinces on the level of budget transparency, participation and accountability in the process of using the provincial budget”, Mrs. Huong expressed.

Mrs. Nguyen Thu Huong, Senior Manager – Oxfam Organization in Vietnam speaking at the announcement ceremony

Mr. Nguyen Quang Thuong, Executive Director of Center for Development and Integration (CDI), the organization coordinating BTAP, shared: “The POBI 2021 survey shows that there are 5 provinces with 91 points or more, of which Ba Ria Vung Tau province topped the POBI 2021 budget transparency ranking with a score of 98.59/100. This shows that the budget disclosure according to the 2015 State Budget Law is completely possible. Provinces with insufficient or little public disclosure need to fully disclose information about the budget and should have sanctions to deal with agencies and individuals who have not fulfilled their responsibilities in publicizing the budget. book”.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Thuong spoke at the announcement ceremony

Following the program, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Vu Sy Cuong, the representative of the research team, presented the results of the POBI 2021 survey. On behalf of the research team, he suggested that the provinces need to overcome and immediately publicize the documents required to be published in accordance with the regulations of the Government Law on Budget 2015 and Law on Information 2016; the planning of the cost estimate should be calculated and considered carefully, ensuring that the difference between the estimated amount and the final settlement amount is not more than 5%; provinces need to be more proactive in receiving and responding to people’s questions and concerns. In particular, provinces need to review the provision of contact email addresses, update the Q&A directory so that people can easily participate and contribute ideas …

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Vu Sy Cuong presents the survey results

After the presentation of the POBI 2021 results, the experts had critical opinions and contributed to the survey results.

According to Mr. Vinh Thong, Director of Khanh Hoa Province’s Department of Finance, publicizing the budget is a common responsibility of the industry. From the publicity of the budget, people could then understand and have a view and assessment on the effective use of the budget. For Khanh Hoa province, the department regularly holds weekly and monthly briefings and has work management software to promptly remind the budget disclosure on time.

Mr. Vinh Thong, Director of Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Finance shared at the launching

Sharing experiences at the launching, a representative of the Quang Binh Department of Finance said that the POBI Provincial Budget Publicity Index is an opportunity for the department to review its responsibility to advise the province’s budget. In previous years, Quang Binh is a province in the bottom, with little publicity of the budget. However, with the right attention and direction of local leaders and the determination of officials and experts of the Department of Finance, in 2021, Quang Binh has had a significant increase in the ranking of the POBI index, and is among the top provinces with full budget disclosure.