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Argentina

Which countries lead in budget accountability? Which ones need improvement? Explore our data and recommendations for each of the 120 countries assessed.
Open Budget Survey Results

Public Participation

15

Budget Oversight

54

Transparency

50

Open Budget Survey 2021

Government budget decisions – what taxes to levy, what services to provide, and how much debt to take on – have important consequences for all people in society. When governments provide information and meaningful channels for the public to engage in these decisions, we can better ensure public money is spent on public interests.

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The Open Budget Survey (OBS) is the world’s only independent, comparative and fact-based research instrument that uses internationally accepted criteria to assess 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 legislatures and national audit offices, in the budget process.

The survey helps local civil society assess and confer with their government on the reporting and use of public funds. This 8th edition of the OBS covers 120 countries.

Summary
Country Specific Assessments
Country summary EN
pdf, 321.86 KB
Questionnaire EN
pdf, 1.09 MB
50 /100

This part of the OBS measures public access to information on how the central government raises and spends public resources. It assesses the online availability, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of eight key budget documents using 109 equally weighted indicators and scores each country on a scale of 0 to 100. A transparency score of 61 or above indicates a country is likely publishing enough material to support informed public debate on the budget.

Transparency in Argentina compared to others

Global Average
45
Brazil
80
Peru
61
Chile
60
Argentina
50
Colombia
50
Paraguay
47
Ecuador
46
Bolivia
20
Venezuela
0
0
Insufficient
61
Sufficient
100

Argentina’s ranking: 52 of 120 countries

0
100

How has the transparency score for Argentina changed over time?

56
2010
50
2012
59
2015
50
2017
58
2019
50
2021
0
Insufficient
61
Sufficient
100

Public availability of budget documents in Argentina

Key
Available to the Public
Published Late, or Not Published Online, or Produced for Internal Use Only
Not Produced
Scroll
Document 2010 2012 2015 2017 2019 2021
Pre-Budget Statement
Executive’s Budget Proposal
Enacted Budget
Citizens Budget
In-Year Reports
Mid-Year Review
Year-End Report
Audit Report

How comprehensive is the content of the key budget documents that Argentina makes available to the public?

Key
61-100 / 100
41-60 / 100
1-40 / 100
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Key budget document Document purpose and contents Fiscal year assessed Document content score
Pre-Budget Statement Discloses the broad parameters of fiscal policies in advance of the Executive's Budget Proposal; outlines the government's economic forecast, anticipated revenue, expenditures, and debt. 2021 22
Executive’s Budget Proposal Submitted by the executive to the legislature for approval; details the sources of revenue, the allocations to ministries, proposed policy changes, and other information important for understanding the country's fiscal situation. 2021 53
Enacted Budget The budget that has been approved by the legislature. 2021 95
Citizens Budget A simpler and less technical version of the government's Executive’s Budget Proposal or the Enacted Budget, designed to convey key information to the public. 2021 59
In-Year Reports Include information on actual revenues collected, actual expenditures made, and debt incurred at different intervals; issued quarterly or monthly. 2020 74
Mid-Year Review A comprehensive update on the implementation of the budget as of the middle of the fiscal year; includes a review of economic assumptions and an updated forecast of budget outcomes. 2020 Not Produced
Year-End Report Describes the situation of the government's accounts at the end of the fiscal year and, ideally, an evaluation of the progress made toward achieving the budget's policy goals. 2019 64
Audit Report Issued by the supreme audit institution, this document examines the soundness and completeness of the government's year-end accounts. 2018 Internal Use

Argentina’s transparency score of 50 in the OBS 2021 is moderately lower than its score in 2019.

What changed in OBS 2021?

Argentina has decreased the availability of budget information by:

Reducing the information provided in the Executive's Budget Proposal.

Recommendations

Argentina should prioritize the following actions to improve budget transparency:

Publish the Audit Report online in a timely manner.
Produce and publish the Mid-Year Review online in a timely manner.
Improve the comprehensiveness of the Executive's Budget Proposal by including data on: the financial position of the government, the macroeconomic forecast, the composition of debt and debt outcomes from prior years; and detailed, multi-year expenditure and revenue information for future and prior budget years.
Improve the comprehensiveness of the Pre-Budget Statement by including the macroeconomic forecast upon which the budget projections are based, and by providing a discussion of policy priorities and a projection of total expenditures and revenues associated with these policies, for the upcoming budget year.
Expand on the participatory nature of the Citizens Budget, for example by identifying the public's requirements for budget information prior to the release of the document, disseminating it via additional methods, and publishing simplified budget documents covering the approval and audit phases of the budget cycle.
15 /100

The OBS assesses the formal opportunities offered to the public for meaningful participation in the different stages of the budget process. It examines the practices of the central government’s executive, the legislature, and the supreme audit institution (SAI) using 18 equally weighted indicators, aligned with the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency’s Principles of Public Participation in Fiscal Policies , and scores each country on a scale from 0 to 100.

Argentina has a public participation score of 15 (out of 100).

Public participation in Argentina compared to others

Global Average
14
Peru
31
Ecuador
26
Chile
24
Bolivia
20
Argentina
15
Brazil
15
Colombia
13
Paraguay
6
Venezuela
0
0
Insufficient
61
Sufficient
100

For more information, see here  for innovative public participation practices around the world.

Extent of opportunities for public participation in the budget process

0
/100
Formulation
(executive)
22
/100
Approval
(legislature)
0
/100
Implementation
(executive)
67
/100
Audit
(supreme audit institution)
Key
0-40: Few
41-60: Limited
61-100: Adequate

Recommendations

To further strengthen public participation in the budget process, Argentina's Ministerio de Economía should prioritize the following actions:

Pilot mechanisms to engage the public during budget formulation and to monitor budget implementation.
Actively engage with vulnerable and underrepresented communities, either directly or through civil society organizations representing them.

Argentina's Congreso de la Nación has held limited public meetings (“Budget and Treasury Commission of the Chamber of Deputies”) related to the approval of the annual budget, but should also prioritize the following actions:

Formalize the existing “Budget and Treasury Commission” public meetings to ensure public participation during legislative budget debates.
Provided that it is produced and published, the Legislature should allow members of the public or civil society organizations to testify during its hearings on the Audit Report.

Argentina's Auditoría General de la Nación has established mechanisms for the public to assist in developing its audit program. It should prioritize the following actions to improve public participation in the budget process:

Establish formal mechanisms for the public to contribute to relevant audit investigations.
54 /100

The OBS examines the role that legislatures and supreme audit institutions (SAIs) play in the budget process and the extent to which they provide oversight; each country is scored on a scale from 0 to 100 based on 18 equally weighted indicators. In addition, the survey collects supplementary information on independent fiscal institutions (see Box).

The legislature and supreme audit institution in Argentina, together, provide limited oversight during the budget process, with a composite oversight score of 54 (out of 100). Taken individually, the extent of each institution’s oversight is shown below:

Legislative oversight

0
42
100
limited

Audit oversight

0
78
100
adequate
Key
0-40: Few
41-60: Limited
61-100: Adequate

Recommendations

Argentina's Congreso de la Nación provides adequate oversight during the planning stage of the budget cycle and no oversight during the implementation stage. To improve oversight, the following actions should be prioritized:

The legislature should debate budget policy before the Executive’s Budget Proposal is tabled and approve recommendations for the upcoming budget.
A legislative commission should examine in-year budget implementation and publish reports with their findings online.
The Congreso de la Nación's Budget and Treasury Commissions should examine the modifications made during the implementation of allocations for priority public policies approved in various areas of state involvement in the Enacted Budget.
Provided that it is produced and published, a legislative commission should examine the Audit Report and publish a report with their findings online.

To strengthen independence and improve audit oversight by Argentina's Auditoría General de la Nación, the following actions are recommended:

Ensure audit processes are reviewed by an independent agency.

The emerging practice of establishing independent fiscal institutions

Argentina’s independent fiscal institution (IFI) is the Oficina de Presupuesto del Congreso. Its independence is not set in law, and it reports to the legislature. It publishes its own macroeconomic and fiscal forecasts, and its own cost estimates of major new policy proposals.

The indicators on IFIs are not scored in the Open Budget Survey.

Methodology

  • Only documents published and events, activities, or developments that took place through 31 December 2020 were assessed in the OBS 2021.
     
  • The survey is based on a questionnaire completed in each country by an independent budget expert:
    Julieta Izcurdia; Pablo Vitale
    Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ)
    Av. de Mayo 1161, 1° piso. (C1085ABB) Bs As, Argentina
    [email protected]; [email protected]
  • To further strengthen the research, each country’s draft questionnaire is also reviewed by an anonymous independent expert, and in Argentina by a representative of the Ministerio de Economía.
Past reports
Years
Language
Country summary EN
PDF, en
Questionnaire EN
PDF, en
Country summary ES
PDF, es
Country summary EN
PDF, EN
Questionnaire EN
PDF, EN
Questionnaire ES
PDF, ES
Country summary ES
PDF, ES
Questionnaire EN
PDF, EN
Country summary EN
PDF, EN
Country summary ES
PDF, ES
Country summary EN
PDF, EN
Questionnaire EN
PDF, EN
Country summary ES
PDF, ES
Country summary ES
PDF, ES
Country summary EN
PDF, EN
Questionnaire EN
PDF, EN
Country summary EN
PDF, EN
Questionnaire EN
PDF, EN
Country summary ES
PDF, ES
Country summary EN
PDF, EN
Questionnaire EN
PDF, EN
Country summary ES
PDF, ES