The Government and the Money Market: Who Manages the Cash and Liquidity of the Croatian Budget?
The paper discusses the need for the Ministry of Finance to start managing the cash and liquidity of the Croatian budget in order to restrain and slow down the growth in short-term public debt. It explains the existing situations, problems, and institutional changes in the Croatian budget process.
Croatia
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Transparency
57
out of 100
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Public Participation
26
out of 100
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Budget Oversight
59
out of 100
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]IBP considers countries that score above 60 on the Open Budget Index as providing sufficient budget information to enable the public to engage in budget discussions in an informed manner. IBP considers countries scoring above 60 on participation and oversight as providing adequate opportunities for the public to participate in the budget process and providing adequate oversight practices, respectively.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”white” border_width=”10″][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section][vc_section el_id=”transparency”][vc_row equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Transparency (Open Budget Index)
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57
out of 100
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]Croatia provides the public with limited budget information.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][rrj_bar_chart title=”How Has the Open Budget Index Score Changed Over Time?” labels=”2006;2008;2010;2012;2015; 2017″ datasets=”%5B%7B%22title%22%3A%22Score%20(out%20of%20100)%22%2C%22tooltips_format%22%3A%22%7By%7D%22%2C%22values%22%3A%2242%3B%5Ct59%3B%5Ct57%3B%5Ct61%3B%5Ct53%3B%5Ct57%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22%23a1a14e%22%2C%22bar_bg%22%3A%22plain%22%7D%5D” cat_per=”50″ legend=”” tooltip_mode=”nearest” title_align=”left” title_tag=”h5″ axes_color=”#333333″ axis_zero=”yes” jsoptions=”e3NjYWxlczogewogICAgICAgIHlBeGVzOiBbewogICAgICAgICAgICB0aWNrczogewogICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgbWF4OiAxMDAsIAogICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgbWluOiAwLAogICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgc3RlcFNpemU6IDEwLAogICAgICAgICAgICB9CiAgICAgICAgfV0KICAgIH0KfQo=” css=”.vc_custom_1520359443971{margin-bottom: 20px !important;}”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Recommendations for Improving Transparency
Croatia should prioritize the following actions to improve budget transparency:
- Publish a Pre-Budget Statement online in a timely manner.
- Produce and publish a Mid-Year Review, which reports on the implementation of the budget so far, as well as updated macroeconomic and fiscal forecasts.
- Increase the information and data provided on macroeconomic forecasts and on the financial position of the government in the Executive’s Budget Proposal.
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Public Participation
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26
out of 100
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]Croatia provides few opportunities for the public to engage in the budget process.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top”][vc_column width=”1/2″ el_class=”country-summary”][vc_progress_bar values=”%5B%7B%22label%22%3A%22Global%20Average%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2212%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%23d2d2d2%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Croatia%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2226%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%23ff7a22%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Slovenia%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2211%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%230087d1%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Bosnia%20and%20Herzegovina%22%2C%22value%22%3A%229%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%230087d1%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Albania%22%2C%22value%22%3A%222%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%230087d1%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Serbia%22%2C%22value%22%3A%222%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%230087d1%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Macedonia%22%2C%22value%22%3A%220%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%230087d1%22%7D%5D” bgcolor=”custom” title=”How Does Public Participation Compare to Other Countries in the Region?” units=”/100″ el_class=”country-summary” custombgcolor=”#ffffff” customtxtcolor=”#333333″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Recommendations for Improving Participation
Croatia should prioritize the following actions to improve public participation in its budget process:
- Actively engage with individuals or civil society organizations representing vulnerable and underrepresented communities during the formulation and monitoring of the implementation of the national budget.
- Hold legislative hearings on the Audit Report, during which members of the public or civil society organizations can testify.
- Establish formal mechanisms for the public to participate in relevant audit investigations.
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Budget Oversight (by Legislature & Audit)
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59
out of 100
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]The legislature and supreme audit institution in Croatia provide limited oversight of the budget.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_progress_bar values=”%5B%7B%22label%22%3A%22Formulation%2FApproval%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2253%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%23d2d2d2%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Execution%2FAudit%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2233%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%23d2d2d2%22%7D%5D” bgcolor=”custom” title=”To What Extent Does the Legislature Provide Budget Oversight?” units=”/100″ el_class=”country-summary” custombgcolor=”#ffffff” customtxtcolor=”#333333″][vc_column_text]The legislature provides limited oversight during the budget cycle. This score reflects that the legislature provides limited oversight during the planning stage of the budget cycle and weak oversight during the implementation stage of the budget cycle.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”top”][vc_column][vc_progress_bar values=”%5B%7B%22label%22%3A%22Adequate%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2289%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%23d2d2d2%22%7D%5D” bgcolor=”custom” title=”To What Extent Does the Supreme Audit Institution Provide Budget Oversight?” units=”/100″ el_class=”country-summary” custombgcolor=”#ffffff” customtxtcolor=”#333333″][vc_column_text]
The supreme audit institution provides adequate budget oversight.
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Recommendations for Improving Oversight
Croatia should prioritize the following actions to make budget oversight more effective:
- Ensure the Executive’s Budget Proposal is provided to legislators at least two months before the start of the budget year.
- Ensure audit processes are reviewed by an independent agency.
- Produce and publish reports by the independent fiscal institution on macroeconomic or fiscal forecasts and on cost estimates of new policy proposals online.
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Learn More
The information on this page presents a partial country summary. For more detailed information, please download:
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Croatia
Transparency (Open Budget Index) 53/100
The Government of Croatia provides the public with limited budget information.
Public Participation 38/100
The Government of Croatia is weak in providing the public with opportunities to engage in the budget process.
Budget Oversight
By legislature 27/100
Budget oversight by the legislature in Croatia is weak.
By auditor 92/100
Budget oversight by the supreme audit institution in Croatia is adequate.
Recommendations
Improving Transparency
Croatia should prioritize the following actions to improve budget transparency:
- Produce and publish a Mid-Year Review.
- Increase the comprehensiveness of the Executive’s Budget Proposal by presenting more information on the classification of expenditures for prior years and the classification of revenues for prior years.
- Increase the comprehensiveness of the Year-End Report by presenting more information on planned versus actual debt and interest and on planned versus actual macroeconomic forecasts.
Improving Participation
Croatia should prioritize the following actions to improve budget participation:
- Establish credible and effective mechanisms (i.e., public hearings, surveys, focus groups) for capturing a range of public perspectives on budget matters.
- Ensure the public is informed of the purpose of public budget engagements and provided with sufficient information to participate effectively.
- Establish formal mechanisms for the public to assist the supreme audit institution to formulate its audit program and participate in audit investigations.
Improving Oversight
Croatia should prioritize the following actions to strengthen budget oversight:
- Establish a specialized budget research office for the legislature.
- In both law and practice, ensure the legislature is consulted prior to the virement of funds in the Enacted Budget, the spending of any unanticipated revenue, and the spending of contingency funds that were not identified in the Enacted Budget.
The Hidden Corners of Public Finance: A Synthesis of Country Case Studies that Look Beyond the Core Budget
This report gives an overview of eight case studies commissioned by the International Budget Partnership that examine public spending that can occur outside of the core budget. This includes certain categories of government activity that may be carried out by state-owned enterprises (SOEs), for example in the form of quasi-fiscal activities (QFAs), or financed through extra-budgetary funds (EBFs) or tax expenditures (TEs). The case studies focus on these four topics in different countries. The full synthesis paper and case studies are available below.
- Transparency of Tax Expenditure Reporting in Mexico
- Quasi-Fiscal Activities in Croatia
- State-Owned Enterprises and Quasi-Fiscal Activities in South Africa
- Tax Expenditures in Germany
- Transparency of State-Owned Enterprises in South Korea
- Extra-Budgetary Funds in France
- The “State-of-the-Art” of State-Owned Enterprises in Brazil
- Transparency of Extra-Budgetary Funds in Russia