Nepal
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Transparency
52
out of 100
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Public Participation
24
out of 100
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Budget Oversight
44
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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52
out of 100
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]Nepal provides the public with limited budget information.
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Recommendations for Improving Transparency
Nepal should prioritize the following actions to improve budget transparency:
- Produce and publish a Pre-Budget Statement and a Citizens Budget.
- Provide detailed data on the macroeconomic forecast as well as data on the financial position of the government in the Executive’s Budget Proposal.
- Increase the information provided in the In-Year Reports and the Enacted Budget.
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Public Participation
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24
out of 100
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]Nepal 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%22Nepal%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2224%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%23ff7a22%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Afghanistan%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2215%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%230087d1%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22India%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2215%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%230087d1%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Bangladesh%22%2C%22value%22%3A%2213%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22custom%22%2C%22customcolor%22%3A%22%230087d1%22%7D%2C%7B%22label%22%3A%22Sri%20Lanka%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%22Pakistan%22%2C%22value%22%3A%226%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
Nepal 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 formulation of the annual budget, 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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44
out of 100
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]The legislature and supreme audit institution in Nepal 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%2224%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 weak oversight during the budget cycle. This score reflects that the legislature provides weak 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%2278%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
Nepal should prioritize the following actions to make budget oversight more effective:
- Ensure the Executive’s Budget Proposal is approved by legislators before the start of the budget year.
- In practice, ensure the legislature is consulted before the executive shifts funds between administrative units specified in the Enacted Budget during the budget year or spends any unanticipated revenue.
- Consider setting up an independent fiscal institution to further strengthen budget oversight.
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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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South Asia: Open Budget Survey 2021
The Open Budget Survey (OBS) is an assessment of fiscal transparency, public participation and formal oversight in the budget process across a range of countries, conducted every two years.
This brief focuses on the OBS performance of South Asia, which is the only region in the world that has seen a steady and substantial downward trajectory in budget transparency since 2017. The region shows clear signs of stresses on democratic norms as checks and balances are undermined and civic space shrinks. Download the report.
Climate Finance Accountability Synthesis Report
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. Significant amounts of finance are and will be required to enable governments around the globe to support adaptation and mitigation efforts. There is growing interest among government, civil society, the private sector and international actors on how to mobilize finance, from both international and national sources, to address the climate crisis.1 Climate finance creates opportunities to mitigate the worst effects of climate change on poor and marginalized groups. Whether it will do so or not depends on the strength of public finance accountability ecosystems through which funds – both domestic and from international donors – are allocated and executed to deliver climate-adapted local development. In this paper, we will use the term “CFA ecosystem” to refer to the public finance accountability ecosystem, but with particular attention to climate-specific funding for inputs and development outcomes related to climate change adaptation.
This report synthesizes lessons learned from a two- year pilot project supported by the Swedish Postcode Foundation and implemented in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Indonesia by ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB), Forest Resource Studies and Action Team (ForestAction) Nepal, the Indonesian Traditional Union of Fisherfolk (KNTI) and the National Center for Indonesia Leadership (INISIATIF) with support from the International Budget Partnership (IBP). Launched in 2019, the project set out to explore:
- How CFA ecosystems function
- The strategies and roles of various actors within them – including civil society – to strengthen and engage in the systems to ensure that resources reach marginalized communities.
The report synthesizes lessons from this project on what needs to be done to ensure that climate finance is used responsively and accountably to mitigate the worst effects of climate change on poor and marginalized groups. The purpose of this study, conducted by the TAP Room, was to draw out insights and learning from the project to deepen knowledge of CFA ecosystems for the organizations involved and the broader field. The research team conducted a desk review of relevant project documents, interviews with IBP staff, and interviews and focus groups with the implementing civil society organizations (CSOs) in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Indonesia. However, the study is not intended to evaluate IBP’s contribution to, nor the final outcomes of, of the CSO efforts.
Download the full report and executive summary.
Promoting Transparency, Oversight and Participation in Budgeting during Emergencies
The benefits of open and accountable government are a longstanding focus of advocates of fiscal transparency. Fiscal accountability enables governments to ensure that public resources reach their targeted beneficiaries and achieve their intended policy outcomes. Government commitment to fiscal openness and accountability acquired renewed significance with the onset of COVID-19 and the introduction of related emergency fiscal policy packages.
In May 2021, the International Budget Partnership (IBP) published a rapidly executed assessment of transparency and accountability arrangements in the fiscal policy responses implemented in 120 countries in response to the pandemic. IBP’s report was important given preexisting concerns with growing inequality, weakening democracy, and the universal demand for efficient and equitable handling of public resources when the crisis hit.
With more than two-thirds of the governments assessed providing limited levels of accountability in the implementation of early COVID-19 fiscal responses, the overall findings of IBP’s report, “Managing COVID Funds: The Accountability Gap,” were bleak. However, the assessment also unearthed examples of good practices that can – and should – be showcased to enable governments to learn how to better manage public resources in times of emergency. The message from the report was clear: When a crisis hits, no one government agency has all the answers. It takes all hands on deck to formulate an effective response and a resilient, inclusive recovery. The good practices in the report highlight the benefits that engagement from the accountability ecosystem can bring.
This paper draws on the findings of 15 case studies of COVID-19-related fiscal policy responses from around the world that were documented by IBP after it published its report in May 2021: Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Chile, Ecuador, Indonesia, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nepal, Paraguay, Philippines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo and the United Kingdom. These cases were chosen based on the findings from the rapid assessment, and they showcase various types of good-practice responses that illustrate how governments can achieve speedy policy responses without undermining accountability. The paper offers lessons to governments, oversight bodies (legislatures and supreme audit institutions) and other external stakeholders in fiscal accountability (including development agencies and civil society organizations) on emergent good practices in ensuring fiscal transparency, citizen engagement and effective oversight during crises. IBP recognizes that different contextual and institutional factors will determine how and why governments adopt lessons from good practices. For this reason, the paper focuses on identifying crosslearning themes that governments can emulate, while at the same time recognizing the constraints on replicating and adapting some of the lessons. Download PDF