BUDGET TRANSPARENCY AND PARTICIPATION AT LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL IN MYANMAR

The study analyzed the participation of citizens in budgeting process in local government in Myanmar. It was conducted a total of 120 respondents where 102 were ordinary citizens, 10 were government officials and 8 were ward Executive officers. The study used both primary and secondary data through interviews, questionnaires and existing literatures of on budget transparency and citizen‟s participation in the budget process in local government level. The study used the descriptive method. The findings from this study indicated that 89% of all respondents do not know how the budget process of local government is prepared and 95% have never participated in budget formulation at the local government level. The findings indicate that there is no effective participation of citizens in the preparation of local government budget and the knowledge of respondents on the process is low that affect the citizens participation. The study has made recommendations for improving citizens‟ participation at local government level where citizens can have direct participation in the budget. The recommendations are focusing government, non-state actors who can undertake some interventions that can improve citizens‟ participation in budgeting process