On the morning of June 16, 2021, the Center for Development and Integration (CDI) and the Vietnam Center for Economic and Strategic Studies (VESS) co-organized the online announcement of Ministry Open Budget Index (MOBI) 2020. The MOBI Index is developed by the Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation (BTAP) Alliance, and by two member organizations of the Alliance, the CDI and the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), with funding from Oxfam in Vietnam. 2020 is the 3rd year in a row that the MOBI has been implemented and announced.

MOBI 2020 assesses the open budget level of 44 ministries and central agencies, of which 38 ministries and central agencies are estimating units and 6 central agencies and organizations are supported by the state budget. The level of publicity and transparency of ministries and central agencies' budgets (MOBI 2020) is based on 5 main criterias (availability, timeliness, completeness, convenience and continuity) of 6 types of documents required to be disclosed under the 2015 Law on State Budget, as guided in Circular 61/2017/TTBTC and Circular 90/2018/TT-BTC.

The average score of MOBI 2020 is 21.64 points, equivalent to the average score of MOBI 2019. There are 34 out of 44 ministries and central agencies that have open budget scores. The remaining 10 ministries and central agencies are not listed in the MOBI 2020 rankings, which means these agencies do not have a budget public directory and do not publish budget documents on the unit's portal at the time of the survey.

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In the MOBI 2020 ranking, the Ministry of Finance ranks No. 1 with 66.63 points, followed by the Ministry of Justice with 48.41 points. VSS ranks 6th with a conversion score of 34.86, in the group of 11 ministries, the central agency ranked level C (only the Ministry of Finance reached B level). In terms of specific criteria, VSS is one of the units that are highly appreciated for improvements in many activities: completeness of public budget documents in the MOBI 2020 survey (ranked No. 3 with a converted score of 20.93); ranked No. 8 in terms of the convenience of publicized budget documents, etc. VSS is also in the list of 16 units that have announced information about the 2019 Budget Finalization (accounting for 36.36% among 44 units), and is one of these 14/16 units having fully reflected 10 expenditures from the domestic budget.

However, in the general assessment from the MOBI 2020 survey results, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vu Sy Cuong - a public finance expert, representative of the Research team said: Compared to the previous year, the level of budget disclosure of the Ministries and the central authorities has not improved much. There are still many units that have not disclosed or fully disclosed, and have not met the requirements under the provisions of the 2015 State Budget Law, Circular 61/2017/TT-BTC and Circular 90/2018/TT-BTC.

Availability: There are 27 agencies and organizations out of 44 agencies in the MOBI 2020 survey that have published at least 1 budget document (accounting for 61.36%), an increase of 3 units compared to 2019. However, there are still 17 ministries and central agencies that did not publicize any documents at the time of the survey (equivalent to 38.64%).

Timeliness: The MOBI 2020 survey results show that ministries and central agencies have not promptly disclosed budget documents as prescribed. Out of 19 units that have published documents on the 2021 budget estimate, only 6 have published on time as prescribed, within 15 days from 31 December 2020. For documents on the 2019 Budget Finalization, 9 out of 16 units have disclosed information on time as prescribed. The remaining documents, including Quarter 1, 6 months, 9 months and the whole 2020 report on the implementation of the unit budget, were only disclosed on time by 4, 4 and 3 units, respectively. No unit has publicly reported on the implementation of the budget for the whole year 2020.

Convenience: The results of the MOBI 2020 survey show that 32 out of 44 units have convenience scores (equivalent to 72.72%), an increase of 5 units compared to MOBI 2019. Budget documents are published on the electronic portal/website of the unit mainly in the form of pdf or scanned images, thus, it is still limited for people to read and use budget information from these document formats. The Ministry of Science and Technology is the unit that publishes documents in the most convenient format (excel), which is easy to access and use documents.

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In terms of completeness, the MOBI 2020 survey results show that the published budget documents do not have sufficient content as prescribed in Circular 90/2018/TT-BTC, and the explanatory report is missing or content of tables are incomplete. Of the 44 units, 27 have made at least one of the six budget documents open.

Regarding continuity, the survey results show that only 6 units (13.6%) have published their unit budget estimates for 3 consecutive years. 7 units (15.9%) announced their final settlement documents for 3 consecutive years.

Dr. Luu Binh Nhuong, Member of the 14th National Assembly, Deputy Director of the National Assembly Commission for People’s Aspirations, commented: "It is worth mentioning that some key central agencies that need to set examples are also among the ones not paying attention to publicize budget documents. That shows that the level of compliance on budget disclosure and budget documents is a huge existential problem and limitation. Strengthening the role of the State Audit and the supervision of the National Assembly is going on the right path, especially the role of verifying the estimates and settlement reports of the Ethnic Council and the National Assembly's committees, in which the number of sessions to explain, question and clarify the causes/reasons for non-disclosure or delay in budget disclosure must increase. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the supervisory role of National Assembly deputies in cases and events. It is also crucial to strengthen the supervisory role of the Fatherland Front and its members, and the supervisory role of the press and public opinion.

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The MOBI 2020 index report also proposes recommendations to ministries and central agencies in general, the Ministry of Finance in particular, and to the National Assembly, the State Audit, and the Government on solutions to improve the MOBI index in the following years. Representative of the research team, Dr. Nguyen Duc Thanh - VESS Director emphasized: “While the level of publicity and transparency of the provinces has continuously improved (through the annual POBI index assessment), the central agencies have not made any significant progress, even though the 2015 Budget Law has been in effect for a long time. This is a disappointing phenomenon as they have failed to set an example of building a rule of law state and as well as shown a lack of accountability to the people. Therefore, I think it is time for the National Assembly to promote its supervisory role in promoting the openness and transparency of the public financial system."