Georgia Becomes World Leader among 120 Countries in Open Budget Index

A report was released by the International Budget Partnership. Georgia ranked first among 120 countries in the world in the results of the 2021 Open Budget Survey.

As of the report, Georgia is now the highest-ranked country on transparency in this year’s survey, and its score has risen by more than 30 points since 2008.

The document reads that in 2020, as pandemic-strained governments struggled to operate effectively, Georgia led the world in budget transparency practices, scoring 87 out of 100 in OBS 2021 (Open Budget Survey). This is an increase of six points from OBS 2019, reflecting the Ministry of Finance’s work to continue publishing timely and comprehensive budget documents.

Georgia’s solid budget practices withstood the challenges posed by the pandemic largely because of the work it has been doing to improve its Financial Management Information System (FMIS), a cornerstone of its strong transparency systems. Since 2010, the government expanded the FMIS to include detailed activity costs, performance indicators, modeling capabilities, and tagging for programs related to climate and gender. The FMIS also now integrates budget transactions, information from line ministries and municipalities, procurement, debt, and treasury functions. As a result, the government was well-positioned to operate online when pandemic restrictions forced officials to work remotely.

The survey was first published in 2006 and Georgia ranked 30th place with 34 points among the least transparent countries. In the results of further studies, the scores and positions were gradually improved and Georgia was among the countries with limited transparency in the 2008, 2010, and 2012 surveys.

According to the 2015 survey, the country moved to the rank of significantly more transparent countries for the first time and with 66 points, ranked 16th among 109 countries in the world, and in 2017 and 2019 ranked 5th in the group of fully transparent countries.