Strengthen the transparency via publishing Budget Report for citizens

Mr. Võ Thành Hưng

Dear Sir, was the publication of the budget report for citizens published for the first time by the Ministry of Finance, and what was different from other budget reports?

This was the fourth consecutive year that the Ministry of Finance published a budget report for citizens. In the State Budget Law of 2015, it did not require us to publish this publication, but according to international standards on budget disclosure, we have implemented it since 2015 and now it was the fourth consecutive year.

Over the years, we have always tried to improve the presentation and content of the report so that people can access budget information in the simplest and easiest way.

Could you share more specifically about these improvements in this year's report?

This year's report included the most basic contents and information on budgets such as revenues, expenditures, budget balances, public debts, foreign debts of the country, with the most easily displayed information in the form of charts which is easy for people to understand, including those who have limited information and knowledge about finance and budget, but they also have access to basic information of state budget.

Besides providing information for people to access, what was the objective of this report, sir?

First of all, the basic objective of the release of this Budget Report for citizens is to give people a chance access basic information beside the propaganda in the mass media, on the Portal of the Ministry of Finance and other media. We shortened the basic information to convey to the people in general.

Moreover, the release of the Report also contributed to the transparency of the Vietnamese budget under the assessment of international organizations. The Open Budget Index (OBI) has greatly appreciated Vietnam's publicity of budget and published Budget Report for Citizens.

In previous years, we only implemented after the National Assembly decided the budget. 2018 is the first year in which we published citizen budgets based on current appropriation before being submitted to the National Assembly. It means that it was done before the budget is approved.

What would happen if the index changed by the National Assembly compared to the proposal submitted to the government after the approval of the resolution?

If the National Assembly changed the content, the report would change accordingly. The publication in advance aimed to give people chances to raise their voices, contributed through the members of parliament to give comments before clicking for approval. It was also the common international standard, which aims to make people understand and convey the message through the members of parliament and have a voice when deciding on state budget appropriation in the parliament.

What channels could people access for this publication, sir?

We have printed and distributed publications through the Office of Ministry of Finance and the Portal of Ministry of Finance.

In the future, would the Ministry of Finance have a plan to publicize the budget of each locality through the release of local reports, sir?

We have been doing this for 4 years and are continuing to do so in the future. At the same time, we also have encouraged localities to do this. This was not compulsory under the State Budget Law, but it was a good practice that localities should implement so that people in localities can get basic information of the budget of each locality, and have a voice through the People's Council when deciding their local budgets.

Thank you so much!