Rwanda: OBS 2025 Highlights Budget Oversight Shortcomings

• Rwanda scored 55 out of 100 on the 2025 Open Budget Index, an increase from 50 in 2023, indicating uneven progress in budget transparency.
• Public participation in Rwanda's budget process remains the weakest accountability pillar, despite a 10-point score increase between 2023 and 2025, with the legislature and Auditor General scoring zero on public engagement.
• Legislative oversight has significantly declined, with its 2025 score of 47 being 17 points below its 2017 level, primarily due to issues in committee reporting and budget timing.
• Audit oversight has shown strong improvement, rising from 50 in 2017 to 89 in 2025, attributed to the Auditor General's independence and consistent legislative attendance.
• Despite robust audit oversight, the Office of the Auditor General still lacks any public participation mechanisms for citizens to influence its audit program.

Legislative oversight, a critical aspect of Rwandan parliamentary oversight decline, has steadily weakened over recent years, with its 2025 score of 47 being a significant 17 points below its 2017 level.

The latest Open Budget Survey (OBS) for 2025, an independent, comparative assessment conducted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), reveals a mixed picture for Rwanda's fiscal transparency efforts. While the government has made strides in opening its budget process, the survey highlights that progress has been inconsistent, with notable Rwanda budget oversight shortcomings OBS 2025 in key areas. The OBS, which covers 82 countries and relies on independent budget researchers for its assessments, found that public participation remains low, and Rwandan parliamentary oversight decline is evident, falling below its 2017 benchmark. Furthermore, the comprehensiveness of some essential budget documents has diminished.

The 2025 survey, which evaluated documents, events, and developments up to December 31, 2024, saw Rwanda improve its Open Budget Index score to 55 out of 100, an increase from 50 in 2023. This assessment involved a review of the draft questionnaire by a representative from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) in Rwanda, with the final findings presented in Kigali on August 14 by Transparency International Rwanda. Despite the overall score improvement, the detailed findings point to specific Rwanda Open Budget Survey weaknesses that demand immediate attention to foster greater accountability and public trust.

Public participation stands out as the weakest of the three pillars of budget accountability in Rwanda, despite showing some improvement. The score for public participation has seen a gradual rise, moving from 13 in 2017 to 15 in both 2019 and 2021, then to 16 in 2023, before a significant jump to 26 in the 2025 survey. The 10-point increase between 2023 and 2025 represents the largest single-round improvement Rwanda has ever recorded in this specific area. However, this progress in Rwanda public participation budget mechanisms was almost exclusively concentrated within initiatives managed by MINECOFIN and local districts.

Crucially, both the legislature and the Office of the Auditor General registered a score of zero on their respective public participation indicators. The survey explicitly found no public-facing participation mechanism available through Parliament at any stage of the budget process. Similarly, the supreme audit institution lacked any formal avenue for the public to influence or contribute to its audit program. To address these significant shortcomings, the survey recommends expanding opportunities for citizens and civil society organizations to monitor budget execution and provide input on the delivery of public services and government programs, particularly during the implementation phase.

While Rwanda's combined budget oversight score saw an increase from 56 in 2023 to 61 in 2025, this aggregate figure obscures a concerning trend within legislative oversight. Legislative oversight, a critical aspect of Rwandan parliamentary oversight decline, has steadily weakened over recent years. Its score, which stood at 64 in 2017, decreased to 61 in both 2019 and 2021, then sharply dropped to 44 in 2023, recovering only slightly to 47 in 2025. This current score is a significant 17 points below its 2017 level, indicating a substantial regression in parliamentary capacity to scrutinize the budget.

The OBS attributes this decline not to a single event, but rather to systemic issues concentrated in the areas of committee reporting and the timing of budget submission and approval processes. To reverse this trend, the survey proposes that parliamentary committees should diligently examine the Executive's Budget Proposal and ensure their analyses are published online for public access. Additionally, it recommends the establishment of a legislative committee specifically tasked with examining in-year budget implementation and publishing comprehensive reports on its findings, thereby enhancing MINECOFIN budget transparency through legislative action.

In contrast to the challenges faced by legislative oversight, Rwanda's audit oversight has demonstrated strong performance and significant improvement. The audit oversight score surged from 50 in 2017 to an impressive 89 in 2025, marking a substantial 39-point gain over the period. Intermediate scores were 72 in both 2019 and 2021, further increasing to 78 in 2023. The OBS attributes this robust performance partly to the established independence and budget autonomy of the Auditor General's office, alongside its consistent attendance at legislative hearings.

However, this commendable strength in audit oversight is not mirrored by public participation in the audit process. The Office of the Auditor General, despite its strong performance in other areas, scored zero across all three indicators designed to assess public participation. The survey explicitly found no mechanism through which citizens could shape or contribute to the audit program, highlighting a critical disconnect. The recommendation stemming from this finding is the implementation of formal mechanisms that would allow citizens to actively shape or contribute to the audit program, ensuring that even strong oversight bodies are responsive to public input.

Lawyers advising civil society organizations or businesses engaged in public procurement in Rwanda should note the identified weaknesses in parliamentary oversight and public participation in the budget process. This may impact transparency, accountability, and opportunities for stakeholder input, necessitating adjusted due diligence or advocacy strategies.

Source: Original reporting via the International Budget Partnership's Open Budget Survey.