Findings of 2019 Open Budget Survey Released; Yemen Scores Zero for the 2nd Time

Yemen has scored zero for the second time on the Open Budget Index recently published by the Washington-based International Budget Partnership (IBP).

The index, which is the world’s only independent, comparable measure of budget transparency, participation, and oversight, is based on the findings of the Open Budget Survey (OBS) which is conducted biennially in over 100 countries across the globe.

In Yemen’s case, this score means that state has not produced the different budget documents during the established constitutional timeframes nor published any budgets for the period covered by the survey (2018 and 2019).

The research work for the survey was carried out in Yemen by the Social Research and Development Center (SRDC) and it measures three different aspects relating to state budgets, public participation and strength of oversight institutions.

In other words, these aspects include assessing public access to central government budget information, formal opportunities for the public to participate in the national budget process and the role of budget oversight institutions such as the legislature, auditor and other auditing institutions in the budget process.

In terms of transparency, the survey measures public access to budget information and the engagement of citizens and non-government organizations in decisions relating to how resources are collected, what priorities are set and how these resources are used. Yemen has a transparency score of 0 out of 100 and this means that the Yemeni government has not produced the required budget documents on the established timeframes nor published them.

Budget works in Yemen have been largely undermined by the coup which Houthis launched against the elected President and the government back on September 21, 2014, which turned into an civil war and later a military intervention by the Saudi-led Arab coalition at the request of President Hadi.

This war has brought about new realities on the ground and duplicate ministries and state institutions. There are two authorities: the legitimate government with alternative state institutions that is based in Aden and the coup authorities which runs the central state institutions in Sana'a and controls most northern provinces.

Although produced way behind the timeframes established by the constitution and the best practices, the Yemeni government produced the state budgets for the fiscal years 2018 and 2019, but it has not produced any budget for the fiscal year 2020. Although they control all central state institutions in Sana’a, Houthis have never ever produced any budgets. They are largely accused of widespread corruption and misuse of public resources.

Yemen scored 0 out of 100 in terms of public participation and engagement and this means that the government does not provide any opportunities for Yemeni citizens to participate during the course of the budget cycle in terms of preparation, execution and oversight.

The survey addresses as well the strength of legislator and auditing institutions that are tasked with scrutinizing the produced budgets and soundness of financial measures followed at the different phases throughout the budget cycle including preparation, approval, execution and oversight and evaluation. It also examines if there are any independent fiscal institutions to provide independent monitoring and oversight for all budget works.

As to the strength of the auditing institution as well as the legislator, Yemen’s score was 7 out of 100 and this is because the oversight by both the Yemeni parliament and the Central Organization for Control and Auditing (COCA) are both very weak. They are not currently undertaking any oversight roles.

Yemen, compared to the previous rounds of the same survey, made an impressive progress between 2012 and 2014, under the National Reconciliation Government, but the progress achieved remained far below the then global average estimated to be 45 out of 100.

The Open Budget Survey is conducted on a regular basis and 2019 round is the 6th round in which Yemen is incorporated. The scores of the previous rounds were 10 (2008), 25 (2010) and 11 (2012), 34 (2015), 0 (2017) and 0 (2019).