Riinvest Institute 2014

ARTICLE I

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9
The third problem, relates to the accountability on 
the planned expenditures during budget preparation. 
The largest parts of the budget summaries, present-
ed in the annual budget document, are very general 
summaries and without any additional information 
about their content. So, the standard presentation of 
the Ministry of Finance
5
that passes through the Gov-
ernment is approved by the Parliament and present-
ed to the public, it is impossible to identify the exact 
content of the planned expenditures.
Here derives the fourth problem, which has to do 
with the reporting of these expenditures by budget 
organizations. According to an analysis of GAP Insti-
tute
6
, a small number of budget organizations make 
budget expenditures public; exactly, only one of 19 
ministries delivers a distinct and more detailed report 
on budget expenditures. Evenly, out of the 37 munic-
ipalities of the Republic of Kosovo, only one publishes 
the detailed expenditures report on its website. Such 
a practice of non-transparency, at central and local 
level, best demonstrates the level of accountability on 
the spending of public money.
The fifth problem, and no less important, is linked to 
the information shared about major contracts in the 
category of capital investment under the state budget 
- among other things, for example, the contract of the 
planned highway Vermice-Merdarë. The total lack of 
transparency in regard to the information about this 
contract represents an unprecedented case in the 
practices of good and open governance, where about 
18% of the annual budget - in four consecutive years 
- is presented as a general sum and without the right 
of information to parliamentarians and Kosovo tax-
payers.