Kuala Lumpur – Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) welcomes the release of the 2021 Open Budget Survey (OBS) results by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) on 31st May 2022. The OBS evaluates the level of transparency, oversight and public participation in the budget practices of 120 countries. The result shows that Malaysia maintained its limited level of transparency, with the same score of 47 (out of 100) as in 2019, when the OBS was last released. Malaysia ranks at 57th place out of 120 countries assessed in the 2021 OBS. 

Despite its stagnation in budget transparency, Malaysia successfully improved its performance in public participation and oversight. Malaysia’s public participation score increased from 17 to 26, placing itself at the second highest ranking after the Philippines in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the oversight score has increased from 31 in 2019 to 39 in 2021. The oversight score measures the extent to which Parliament and the National Audit Department can provide independent checks to keep the government accountable for financial management.

Commenting on the result, Sri Murniati Yusuf, IDEAS Deputy Research Director says, “The increase in both the oversight and public participation scores is  encouraging.  It’s a recognition of the transparency initiatives that the government has embarked on during the pandemic such as the publication of LAKSANA reports which update the public on the status of stimulus package implementation. It is also a recognition of the lively debate that happened on the 2020 tabling of the budget, where the public witnessed several proposals to amend the budget, notably JASA’s (Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas) budget.”  

“Unfortunately, these improvements may not be sustainable. They are occasional in nature and are not anchored on established practice yet. The LAKSANA reports for example are remarkable examples of public participation, but it is limited to stimulus packages; periodic updates on the implementation of the annual budget are not available to the public as yet. The extensive debate on the budget in 2020 also happened due to the intention of the opposition to prevent the 2021 budget being passed by the Parliament. It did not happen due to the existence of established parliamentary select committees.”

To sustain this improvement, Malaysia needs institutional reforms to ensure sustainable public participation, oversight and transparency practices in the budgeting process. To ensure significant improvement in oversight, IDEAS calls for the government to accelerate reforms needed to make our parliament more professional and accountable. Our parliament needs functioning, fully resourced parliamentary select committees,  whereby extensive debate on spending, policies and administration can happen more regularly. The parliament also needs to have a platform for more active public participation in oversight practices, such as public hearings for certain parliamentary select committees sessions.

“We hope the stagnant score for transparency strengthens the government’s resolve to undertake comprehensive fiscal reforms.   IDEAS recognises the government’s  initiative  to improve budget transparency through the publication of  a pre-budget statement (PBS) and pre-budget consultation papers, and calls for  the government to accelerate the planned introduction of a Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA). One immediate improvement that  we encourage the government to take this year is to publish the Mid-Year Budget Review document, which reports the implementation of the annual budget to the public, including the update on expenditure and revenue as well as the performance of budget programs.”

IDEAS welcomes the inclusion of Open Budget Index (the transparency score of the OBS) as one of the targets in the 12th Malaysia Plan, which is to achieve score 61 by the end of 2025. These new practices and the introduction of the FRA, especially if it mandates the publication of key budget documents, greater involvement of parliament in providing oversight as well as comprehensive disclosure of fiscal risks and liabilities, will help achieve this score and most importantly improve the overall fiscal governance in the country.

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Open Budget Survey 

The Open Budget Survey (OBS) is part of the International Budget Partnership’s (IBP) Open Budget Initiative, a global research and advocacy program to promote public access to budget information and the adoption of inclusive and accountable budget systems. First launched in 2006 and conducted biennially, the OBS 2021is the eighth round of this initiative.

The Open Budget Survey (OBS) assesses the three components of a budget accountability system. The first is referred to as Transparency which denotes the budget transparency score (also known as the Open Budget Index). This component measures public availability of eight key budget documents: Pre-Budget Statement, Executive’s Budget Proposal, Enacted Budget, Citizens Budget, In-Year Reports, Mid-Year Review, Year-End Report, and Audit Report.  These documents must be published online, in a time-frame consistent with good practices, and must include information that is comprehensive and useful. 

The second component is referred to as Public Participation. It assesses how well or to what degree the executive, the legislature, and the supreme audit institution each provides opportunities for the public to engage during different cycles of the budget process. 

The third component is known as Budget Oversight, where it examines the role played by formal oversight institutions such as the legislature and the national audit office (referred to here as the supreme audit institution or SAI) in the budget process and the extent to which they are able to provide robust oversight of the budget.

Malaysia has been included in the OBS since 2008 and IDEAS has been the researcher for the country assessment since 2015. 

For further information, see https://internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey after 0800 on 31 May 2022.

Download Media Statement PDF File Here

For enquiries, please contact:
Sri Murniati Yusuf, Deputy Research Director
T: +603 2070 8881/8882 | E: unie@ideas.org.my

Louis Denis, Manager, External Relations
T: +603 2070 8881/8882 | E: louis@ideas.org.my