PHILIPPINE PERFORMANCE FOR THE PAST FIVE SURVEY PERIODS

Year No. of Countries Indicator
Overall ranking Overall score
2008 85 32 48
2010 94 33 55
2012 100 47 48
2015 102 23 64
2017 115 19 67

 

Since 2015, the Philippines have consistently risen in the OBI, proving that initiatives on improving budget transparency and open government are working. The current score exceeds the PDP target for 2017 at 64/100. The country ranks 19th out of 115 countries (83.5 pctl) surveyed, an increase from its 2015 ranking (20th out of 102 countries or 80.4 pctl).

Philippine vs. ASEAN Performance (Current vs. Past Survey Period

Country 2017

Overall Ranking

2017

Score*

2015

Score**

Change

(2017 vs. 2015)

Brunei N/A N/A N/A N/A
Cambodia 89 12.75 6.86 +5.89
Indonesia 23 77.46 74.51 +2.95
Lao PDR N/A N/A N/A N/A
Malaysia 54 47.06 46.08 +0.98
Myanmar 99 2.94 1.96 +0.98
Philippines 19 81.37 77.45 +3.92
Singapore N/A N/A N/A N/A
Thailand 37 63.73 36.27 +27.46
Vietnam 91 10.78 14.71 -3.93

* 115 countries were measured.

* 102 countries were surveyed.

The Philippines maintains its dominance over the rest of ASEAN since 2015. The latest rankings show that we are the only ASEAN country in the top 20. Thailand and Indonesia are catching up however. Thailand almost doubled its OBI score in 2017 while Indonesia increased at almost the same pace (3 vs. 4) as the Philippines.

Indicator Overview

The Open Budget Survey is part of the International Budget Partnership’s Open Budget Initiative, a global research and advocacy program to promote public access to budget information and the adoption of accountable budget systems.

It assesses the three components of a budget accountability system: public availability of budget information; opportunities for the public to participate in the budget process; and the role and effectiveness of formal oversight institutions, including the legislature and the national audit office (referred to here as the “supreme audit institution”).

From the survey, the Open Budget Index (OBI) is assigned to each country using a score from 0 to 100, where 100 is the highest. A country’s OBI score measures the extent to which it makes the eight key budget documents available to the public on the relevant government website in a timely manner and the comprehensiveness of publicly available budget information.

The score for the OBI is committed as part of Chapter 5’s Results Matrix.

Further Information

Frequency of update: Every two years

Publication of update: 30 January 2018

Period of study: Usually 18 months (March of previous year to September of year of release)

Link to the main site: https://www.internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey/

Historical data: http://survey.internationalbudget.org/#download

Past Indicator Analysis