Croatia ranked 25th in the Open Budget Survey 2021 with regard to the Open Budget Index, remaining among countries with sufficient budget information available, but it fell slightly compared with the 2019 survey, the Institute of Public Finance (IJF) said on Tuesday.

According to the latest results of the international survey by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) on budget transparency, Croatia’s Open Budget Index in 2021 was 64 points out of 100, which is four points fewer in comparison with the 2019 survey.

Croatia thus ranked 25th on the list, which was topped by Georgia (87), South Africa (86) and Sweden (85). At the very bottom of the list are countries where no budget information is available to citizens, including Equatorial Guinea, Yemen, Venezuela and Comoros, all of which scored zero points.

According to the authors of the comment on Croatia’s budget transparency, Mihaela Bronic and Josip Franic, although public finance all over the world has faced great tests since the COVID-19 outbreak, new challenges await them now.

The results of the Open Budget Survey 2021, released on 31 May, are the only long-term, independent and internationally-comparable indicator of online budget information quality and comprehensiveness.

The Open Budget Index is expressed as a score from zero to 100, with higher scores indicating greater availability of information. The score is based on responses to 109 questions analysing the availability of information, timely publication and comprehensiveness of eight key budget documents.