Sri Lanka has scored 9 out of 100 for public participation in the Open Budget Survey 2025, even as its budget transparency score improved, according to the International Budget Partnership’s latest assessment of 82 countries.
The survey scores governments on three separate measures: how much budget information they publish, how well parliament and auditors scrutinise spending, and how much room citizens get to shape decisions before a budget is finalised. Sri Lanka scored 43 for transparency, 56 for oversight and 9 for participation.
Transparency up, participation flat
The transparency score rose from 37 in 2023, continuing an uneven run that saw the country reach 47 in 2019 before falling to 30 in 2021. The Enacted Budget — the final version passed into law — scored 89 out of 100 for how thoroughly it is published, and Sri Lanka issued a Citizens Budget, a simplified version aimed at the general public, for the first time this year.
The survey identifies gaps that hold the score down. Sri Lanka does not publish a Pre-Budget Statement setting out fiscal plans before the budget is drafted, nor a Mid-Year Review showing whether spending is tracking to plan. It also has no independent fiscal institution to provide outside analysis of budget decisions.
On participation, the survey found Parliament does not take public testimony on the budget or on audit reports. The International Budget Partnership notes that the Ministry of Finance has established some public consultation during budget formulation, and that the National Audit Office has a mechanism for the public to help develop its audit programme — but rates the overall opportunities as minimal.
Sri Lanka’s transparency score sits below the regional average of 49, trailing Nepal (52), Pakistan (45) and India (44), while remaining ahead of Bangladesh (37).
The 2027 budget timetable
The findings land as work on the next budget begins. The draft Appropriation Bill goes to Cabinet on September 14 and is due in the Government Gazette on September 18, with a first reading on October 7, the Budget Speech on November 12 and committee-stage debate from November 21 to December 14.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who holds the finance portfolio, has begun pre-budget review meetings with individual ministries, starting with the Ministry of Justice. That consultation has so far been between the President and ministry officials rather than the public.
Sources
The three scores cited above were verified against the Open Budget Survey 2025 country page for Sri Lanka, published by the International Budget Partnership, which conducts the survey.
