The Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis”-Skopje (IDSCS) and the Center for Economic Analyses (CEA) are promoting the public policy study “Budget Transparency and Accountability in Macedonia”.
IDSCS and CEA conclude that regardless of where the legal obligation derives from, budget users are obliged to make information and data which relate to their programs, strategies, budgets, spending and similar documents publicly available. These obligations are determined by the Law on Free Access to Public Information, Law on Use of Public Data and the Law on Budgets. However, despite such legal obligation, the current level of budget transparency of the budget users is at a minimal level. The budget for the current year is published online on its website by only one in 60 monitored institutions, while the annual accounts are published by only 4 institutions.
Aiming to advance the budget transparency in Macedonia, this public policy study recommends the following:
– The Budget Proposal should be delivered to Parliament at least 3 months before the start of the next fiscal year.
– All budget users should publish their budget proposals, adopted budgets and audit reports on their websites.
– The Ministry of Finance should begin preparation of a Citizens’ Budget.
– The Ministry of Finance should correct the delay and the Fiscal Strategy should be adopted by 31 May in the year, the latest.
– The Ministry of Finance in the Fiscal Strategy should provide more information about the resources that the Government plans to allocate according to its programs.
– To take into account the possibility of adopting the Fiscal Strategy in the Assembly
– All budget users should publish their monthly reports with short comments, a review of the execution of the budget in the specific month and comparison with the forecasted spending
– The Ministry of Finance should fulfill its legal obligation to publish the Midterm report, which should be followed by other institutions, and it should contain a more detailed reporting on the execution of the Budget in the first semester.
– The Government and the Ministry of Finance should take initial activities to include the wider public in consultations about the budget priorities.
– All budget users, in addition to www.otvorenipodatoci.gov.mk website, should also publish their budget reports, the Budget, the annual account and the reports on the execution of the budget, as well as other documents, in a form of open data.
– The Ministry of Finance should introduce mechanisms (petitions and online requests) through which the citizens and other stakeholders will be able to submit requests for auditing of some institution.
– The Ministry of Finance should begin organizing an open budget forum annually and semiannually, through which the ministry will consult the public and stakeholders in regards to the budget process.
The full study and the recommendations can be read on the following links: in Macedonian 
and in Albanian 
The study was prepared within the project “Enhancing Transparency and Accountability through Performance Budgeting” which is implemented by CEA and IDSCS and which is funded by the European Union. The aim of the project is to promote budget transparency for accountable spending of public finances. More information about this project can be found on the following link www.idscs.org.mk.
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje and the Center for Economic Analysis and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union