Budget Transparency in Croatian Counties, Cities and Municipalities: November 2020 – April 2021

Abstract

The average level of budget transparency in all Croatian local government units, expressed as the number of key budget documents published on their respective official websites, stands at 4.5 (out of a maximum 5). All counties published all five requested budget documents, cities published 4.7 documents on average, while municipalities’ average score stands at 4.4. However, despite high average rates, 8% of cities (10) and 16% of municipalities (68) still fail to publish all three documents required by law, while 20% of cities and 31% of municipalities fail to publish the two documents whose publication was recommended by the Ministry of Finance. Although the publishing of key budget documents does not in itself signify absolute transparency, it is considered the initial step toward higher transparency levels necessary for citizens’ constructive participation in the budgetary process and control over the collection and spending of public funds. A summary of results for all counties, cities and municipalities is provided in the text below, while more detail is available in the form of an interactive map and an Excel table.