Development of the Open Budget System (TN0014)

Development of the open budget system in order to facilitate access to documents related to public finance and execution of the budget. This will guarantee the reuse of data by all users. This system will include a set of global data, which will be disseminated through the exploitation of automated information systems regarding the implementation of the State budget system, especially the system of management of the budget “ADEB”. This will be considered as an important step towards transparency, corruption fight and avoiding waste of public resources.

Clustered Commitments 13, 14, and 15: Open budget

13: Budget reports

Commitment Text: According to IBP-OECD international standards, 8 reports^{[Note 43: These are audit reports. Please see the IRM Midterm Progress Report 2014-2015 for further details, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Tunisia2014-15_IRM%20Progress%20Report_Eng.pdf.]} related to budget must be published, but in Tunisia, only 6 reports are published. The proposal is to publish the two missing reports:

•       Semi-annual report related to the budget.

•       Audit report.

The 8 reports must be published in the appropriate deadlines according to international standards and also the citizen-budget must be published before the publication of the law of finance.

•       Devoting fiscal transparency for public enterprises and institutions in order to oblige them to publish their financial statements.

Responsible Institutions: Ministry of Economy and Finance; the Unit of Follow-up of Public Enterprises and Institutions (Presidency of the Government)

Start Date: July 2014 End Date: June 2016

14: Open budget system

Commitment Text: Development of the open budget system in order to facilitate access to documents related to public finance and execution of the budget.  This will guarantee the reuse of data by all users. This system will include a set of global data, which will be disseminated through the exploitation of automated information systems regarding the implementation of the State budget system, especially the system of management of the budget “ADEB.” This will be considered as an important step towards transparency, corruption fight and avoiding waste of public resources.

Responsible Institution(s): Ministry of Economy and Finance

Start Date: July 2014 End Date: December 2015

15: Exploring data existing in the budget management platform (ADEB)

Commitment Text: Data and information related to public structures budget and existing in the application dedicated to budget management (ADEB) will be used and published in an easy and readable format. Also public procurement providers will be allowed to follow up their payments through this system.

Responsible Institution(s): Ministry of Finance and Economy

Start Date: July 2014 End Date: June 2016

Commitment aim

This cluster of commitments was concerned with open budget reporting. Up until 2013, Tunisia’s track record in budget openness was poor.^{[Note 44: International Budget Partnership, “Tunisia,” Open Budget Survey 2012, http://bit.ly/1ZjkNdI.]}

With commitment 13, the government pledged to comply with international budget transparency standards by publishing the Budget Semi-Annual Report (produced by the Ministry of Finance), and the Audit Report (produced by the National Audit Court).

In commitment 14, the Ministry of Finance planned to set up an online platform, one that could be used easily by citizens with no background in finance or audits, for accessing and understanding budget information.

In commitment 15, the Ministry of Finance promised to implement an online tool to allow citizens to explore and reuse detailed data related to the budget and its execution from public institutions (ministries, government agencies, etc.). The tool was meant to be tailored to government contractors, and help them to track government payments.

Status

Midterm

Commitment 13 – Substantial: The Ministry of Finance published the 2014 Semi-Annual Budget Execution Report on May 2015.^{[Note 45: Republic of Tunisia, Ministry of Finance, “Semi-Annual Report on 2014 Budget Execution,” 2014, accessed, http://bit.ly/1mTVbrz.]} This substantially completed this commitment. The audit report, which was the second part of the commitment, was not released. It was to be published after following internal feedback from the National Court of Audit.

Commitment 14 – Substantial: The Ministry of Finance secured support from the World Bank Group to set up an online citizen-friendly platform (ADEB) for exploring budget information. A prototype of the webiste was created and available through an unofficial website.^{[Note 46: BOOST, Open Budget Platform of the Minister of Economy and Finance of Tunisia, “Bienvenue sur le portail du budget ouvert du Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances de la Tunisie,” http://salasituacional.net/tunisia/template_fr/.]}

Commitment 15 – Limited: The ADEB platform was not publically accessible at the time of the midterm assessment. The Ministry of Finance reported that the Computer Finance Center (CIMF) implemented the platform “ADEB Web” internally, but the platform was pending final validation.

For more information, please see the 2014-2015 IRM Midterm Progress Report.^{[Note 47: OGP, Tunisia IRM Midterm Progress Report 2014-15, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Tunisia2014-15_IRM%20Progress%20Report_Eng.pdf.]}

End of term

Commitment 13 – Substantial: According to the government’s self-assessment report, the Semi-Annual Budget Report was published (May 2015), but the audit report was not released by the Court of Auditors. Thus, the commitment is not yet complete. The delay in publishing the audit report is due to internal issues within the Court of Auditors. According to the government’s self-assessment, the audit report is still being drafted.

Commitment 14 – Complete: The budget portal was launched in December 2015, and is currently open to the public at http://www.mizaniatouna.gov.tn, thereby completing this commitment. Information from the government’s internal financial tracking system (ADEB) is automatically pulled into the user-friendly plain language budget portal.

Commitment 15 – Substantial: The open budget portal contains open data sets, and allows users to track budgets and spending by goverment department.^{[Note 48: Portail Mizaniatouna Du Ministere Des Finances De La Tunisie, “Manuel de l’utilisateur de la base de données BOOST de la Tunisie,” http://www.mizaniatouna.gov.tn/tunisia/template_fr/Manuel_fr.php.]} The government’s self-assessment reports that the commitment is substantially complete, and an implementation committee has been established to continue progress. However, the portal is still missing a few tools specified in the commitment text. For example, procurement providers are not yet able to follow up and track payments through the portal.

Did it open government?

Commitment 13

Access to information: Marginal

Publication of the Semi-Annual Budget Report improved Tunisia’s ranking in the International Budget Project (IBP) 2015 Open Budget Index, from 89^th to 66^th (or a score of 42 out of 100).^{[Note 49: International Budget Partnership, “Tunisia,” Open Budget Survey 2015, http://bit.ly/1W5odkg.]} Although this is a positive step, the delayed audit report has affected Tunisia’s OGP eligibility requirements. In 2015, Tunisia fell below the eligibility criteria since it no longer published the audit report in the correct time frame. The government was given a year to increase its score above the threshold. As of May 2016, the Tunisian government submitted a request to the IMF for an extension of funds to continue carrying out economic and fiscal reforms, including updating and improving audit reporting.^{[Note 50: International Monetary Fund, “Tunisia: Request for an Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility—Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Tunisia,” IMF Country Report No. 16/138 (June 2016), https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2016/cr16138.pdf.]} At the close of the commitment’s implementation period in June 2016, however, the audit reports still had not been released.

Commitment 14

Access to information: Major         

The Tunisian Ministry of Finance launched a new portal, together with the World Bank, to increase the transparency of public spending and enable citizens to monitor government’s use of public funds. The Mizaniatouna (Our Budget) portal acts as a single point of entry for all financial information dating to 2008. It is accessible in French and Arabic, and provides texts and graphs to improve citizens’ ability to understand budget information, including budget deficits, public debt, and the cost of public subsidies.

ADEB is the Ministry of Finance’s internal system used for tracking government financial information. The Mizaniatouna portal pulls information directly from ADEB, and display it publicly in an easy to use format. A World Bank Senior Public Sector Specialist noted, “Tunisia’s transition from being one of the most secretive regimes in the region to becoming the frontrunner in terms of fiscal transparency is a very fulfilling experience. It offers great opportunities for deeper citizen engagement to improve the transparency and accountability of key public programs and services.”^{[Note 51: The Wolrd Bank, “Tunisia's Fiscal Transparency Revolution: from Secrecy to Full Openness”, 23 December 2015, http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/12/23/tunisia-fiscal-transparency-revolution-from-secrecy-to-full-openness]}

Commitment 15

Access to Information: Marginal

The interactive Mizaniatouna budget site includes transparency tools, such as a “pivot table” with which citizens can download raw data on public spending in open formats.^{[Note 52: Portail Mizaniatouna, isdatabank.info/boost_tunisia_fr/ ]} The data have been collected and integrated with the World Bank BOOST database system, and are organised by sector (public remuneration, interest on government debt, public funding, etc.) and year (from 2008). While it is too early to assess how citizens have used the site since it came online, and how this initiative has changed government practice, it does represent a positive step toward greater fiscal transparency. Some members of civil society believe that the portal could still be improved to make data easier to reuse.^{[Note 53: Al Bawsala Interview with IRM researcher, 1 February 2017.]} Developing and implementing the portal has had a major impact on opening government by making fiscal information available, but it is less clear how useful the data tools, in their current format, will be in allowing citizens to analyse public spending.

Carried forward?

These commitments were not included in the second action plan. The IRM researcher suggests collecting feedback and working with CSOs and Mizaniatouna site users to assess how the portal and data are being used, and whether the tools can be improved.