Government committed to transparency and public engagement in the budgeting process
The Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, Iipumbu Shiimi last week on Friday reiterated the government’s commitment to transparency and public engagement in the budgeting process.
Shiimi highlighted this at the launch of the Namibia Open Budget Survey 2023 at an event held in Windhoek.
Shiimi emphasized Namibia’s subscription to the Open Budget Survey (OBS) by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), a biennial measure aimed at assessing budget transparency, public participation, and budget oversight.
“Budget transparency assesses public access to information on how the central government raises and spends public resources. It assesses the online availability, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of key budget documents using equally weighted indicators and scores each country on a scale of 0 to 100,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of transparency, Shiimi stressed its correlation with stronger democracies, equity, and better development outcomes.
He pointed out that countries with more open budgeting systems tend to have lower debt levels, improved debt management, and better credit ratings, which attract investment and reduce borrowing costs.
Moreover, Shiimi said increased public participation leads to more efficient resource allocation towards national priorities, including human capital development and Sustainable Development Goals.
Regarding the progress made in the 2023 Namibia Open Budget Survey, Shiimi acknowledged the improvement in rankings but emphasized the need for continuous efforts to ensure all citizens have access to budget information and participate fully in the budgeting process.
