Thus, Croatia is listed in the category of countries that provide citizens only with some information, officials of the Public Fiance Institute said at a round table discussion in Zagreb earlier this week.
Finance Ministry officials said that great progress had been made over the past year and that Croatia would have improved its position had the survey been made recently.
"If the survey were conducted today, Croatia would move upwards on the list at least by one step. In the previous period headway was made in many areas, but there is still room for further improvement. The openness and transparency of the budget are our orientation and objective," Assistant Finance Minister Zdravko Maric told the round table discussion.
The Washington-based nonprofit and nonpartizan organisation "Center on Budget and Policy Priorities" launched a project it called the first-ever budget transparency country rankings.
According to a text on the the organisation's web site, "on October 18, 2006 civil society organizations from 59 countries around the world unveiled the Open Budget Index. This is the first index to rate countries on how open their budget books are to their citizens."
"Croatia scores 42 percent out of a possible 100 percent on the Open Budget Index 2006. The index evaluates the quantity of information provided to citizens in the seven key budget documents that all governments should make pblic during the course of the budget year. Croatia's performance indicates that the government provides citizens with some information on the central government's budget and financial activities, but there is much room for the improvement," the organisation stated on its website.
Budget transparency country rankings will be published every year.