Afghanistan Improves Budget Transparency

There has been a 21% improvement in Afghan budget transparency in the last two years, according to Integrity Watch Afghanistan

Integrity Watch Afghanistan has said an improvement in budget transparency will cut corruption and increase donor countries' willingness to spend their funds through the Afghan government's budget.

While there are concerns over widespread corruption in Afghanistan, Integrity Watch has said there has been considerable improvement in the field of transparency.

Afghanistan, according to Integrity Watch, had reached 8% of budget transparency standards in 2008, but it has now reached a level of 21%.

Director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan, Lorenzo Delesgues, told TOLOnews: "The Afghan government considers budget transparency very important. This will reduce corruption and increase accountability to the Afghan people."

Being an affiliated organisation of Transparency International, Afghanistan Integrity Watch is a research and policy network for tranparency and accountability based in Afghanistan.

Sayed Massoud, an Afghan economist welcomed improvement in budget transparency, but expressed concern about the Afghan government's challenges in spending and budget distribution.

"If we look back at two or three years back, we may find better results in some fields, but I think we have a lot of problems in terms of proper budgeting of international and national funds, as well as timing and implementation of the budget," said Sayed Massoud.

While Integrity Watch Afghanistan says budget transparency can reduce corruption, but it adds that that the reports provided by the government have to be checked for accuracy.