South Asia: Open Budget Survey 2021

The Open Budget Survey (OBS) is an assessment of fiscal transparency, public participation and formal oversight in the budget process across a range of countries, conducted every two years.

This brief focuses on the OBS performance of South Asia, which is the only region in the world that has seen a steady and substantial downward trajectory in budget transparency since 2017. The region shows clear signs of stresses on democratic norms as checks and balances are undermined and civic space shrinks. Download the report.