The Dominican Government has promoted a strategy to involve citizens virtually in some government processes, through the integration of public consultations to its digital portals with the aim of making the preparation and implementation of the national budget. However, it still does not reach optimal levels in citizen participation and in budget supervision, according to the 2021 Open Budget Survey carried out by the International Budget Partnership (IBP).
Recently, the IBP published its survey in which it analyzes the government management of 120 countries in three aspects. Dominican Republic obtained 77 points out of 100 in transparency for publishing and keeping publicly available data from the national budgeta theme that has been carried out continuously since 2017.
The international organization measures the rates of transparency based on public access to information on how the central government collects and spends public resources. In addition, it assesses the online availability, timeliness, and completeness of eight budget documents, using 109 equally weighted indicators on which it rates each country.
In this sense, what the international survey analyzes is the periodic publication of information on government collection and spending.
According to the report, in budget oversight, the National Congress provides limited oversight during the planning stage of the budget cycle and adequate oversight at the implementation stage, with 63 points out of 100.
little access
As to citizen participationthe indicators reached were barely 22 points, which reflects the need for the State bodies to prioritize mechanisms that guarantee greater participation of citizens in general during the formulation of the budget.
The IBP recommends that authorities increase access for participation and intervention by members of the public or civil society organizations during audit report hearings.
