Open Budget Index: Azerbaijan ranks 44th out of 120 countries

Published: 1 June 2022 15:48

On May 31, the International Budget Partnership released its 2021 Open Budget Index.

Countries are evaluated on three overarching categories: public participation, budget oversight and transparency.

Azerbaijan ranks 44th out of 120 countries in terms of budget transparency, with a total of 57 out of 100 points, followed by Uganda and Ghana.

Economist Samir Aliyev evaluates that, with a score of nine points, the level of disclosure of information related to the public budget in Azerbaijan remains limited. According to him, the reason for Azerbaijan’s low score in this indicator is due to the lack of public participation:

“Indeed, public participation in budget discussions is non-existent. With few exceptions, civil society is almost non-existent in parliamentary debates”, he adds.

As for Azerbaijan’s neighbors, Georgia ranks first among 120 countries in the budget transparency indicator, scoring 87 points. Armenia is on the 33rd place.