Sri Lanka has ranked above all neighbours in South Asia except India on the Open Budget Survey 2010 by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) in Washington DC, USA.

Sri Lanka’s Open Budget Index (OBI) 2010 score of 67 ties with India’s for the highest in the South Asia region. It indicates that the government provides the public with significant information on the central government's budget and financial activities during the course of the budget year.

"While some deficiencies remain, the amount of information published is generally sufficient for citizens to assess how the government is managing public funds," International Budget Partnership said.

The Survey measures whether governments produce and disseminate to the public 8 key budget documents required by international good practices, and it examines effective budget oversight and public participating in national budget decision making.

The OBI uses objective, internationally recognized criteria to give each country transparency score on a 100-point scale. The index graded countries as giving scant or no information (0-20 points - E), minimal (21-40- D), some (41-60-C), significant (61-80- B) and extensive (81-100-A).

The extensive information category countries were South Africa, New Zealand, UK, France, Norway, Sweden and the US.

The amount of budget information provided in Sri Lanka has risen substantially since 2006. Its score rose from 47 in 2006 to 67 in 2010. During this period, the budget documents it published became significantly more comprehensive, states the International Budget Partnership.


Full text of the Open Budget Index 2010 (Sri Lanka):

http://www.internationalbudget.org/files/OBI2010-SriLanka.pdf