The Open Budget Survey, which has been conducted since 2006, included Montenegro for the first time this year, ranking it among 125 countries in terms of budget openness.
On the transparency index, Montenegro scored 48 out of a possible 100 points, indicating significant shortcomings in access to budget data. With this result, Montenegro ranks 64th out of 125 countries. In the region, only North Macedonia (35 points) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (27 points) scored worse than us – all other countries in the region are ahead of Montenegro in this regard.
This part of the Index measures the public availability of information on how the executive branch collects and spends public resources. The survey assesses the availability, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of eight key budget documents, using 109 indicators to measure budget transparency and assign each country a score on a scale from 0 to 100. A transparency score of 61 or higher indicates that a country publishes enough material to inform the public and prepare for public budget discussions.
In other dimensions of the survey, Montenegro achieved mixed results. Public participation in budgeting was particularly poorly rated, with 13 out of 100 points, while budget oversight was rated as adequate (74 out of 100 points), although the role of the Parliament in this regard was rated significantly lower than that of the State Audit Institution.
Creating a citizens’ budget, providing a mid-year budget execution report to Parliament, publishing non-financial data on budget performance, achieving goals and indicators of the program budget, and mechanisms for involving citizens in the budget process are just some of the recommendations that need to be fulfilled for Montenegro to improve its score.
Institute Alternative is the local partner that conducted this research for Montenegro, under the auspices of the International Budget Partnership from Washington.
Visit www.internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey for more information, including the full survey methodology, the 2023 Global Report, findings, and data for Montenegro and all surveyed countries.
