Budget Transparency in Croatian Counties, Cities and Municipalities: November 2021 – April 2022

The overall average level of budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities – expressed as the number of key budget documents published on their respective websites, stands at 4.5 (out of a maximum 5). All counties published all five requested budget documents, cities published 4.7 documents on average, while municipalities scored an average score of 4.4. However, 19 cities and 92 municipalities still fail to publish the three documents required by law, while 14 cities and 124 municipalities fail to publish the two documents whose publication was recommended by the Ministry of Finance. Two municipalities failed to publish a single budget document. The mere publication of key budget documents can only be considered the first, but nevertheless crucial step toward higher levels of budget transparency and public participation and the necessary prerequisite for getting the citizens acquainted with local budgeting processes. A summary of results for all counties, cities and municipalities is provided in the text below, while more detail is available in the form of an interactive map and an Excel tabl