ZIMBABWE has emerged as one of Africa’s leading performers in budget transparency after scoring 62 out of 100 in the 2025 Open Budget Survey (OBS), ranking third in Sub-Saharan Africa and second in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The OBS is a globally recognised assessment conducted by the International Budget Partnership every two years.
It evaluates countries on budget transparency, public participation and oversight, providing an independent measure of how governments manage and disclose public finances.
Finance minister, Mthuli Ncube, said the latest ranking demonstrated Zimbabwe’s commitment to transparency, accountability and sound public financial management.
“The 2025 results show that Zimbabwe scored 62 out of 100 on the Open Budget Index (OBI), well above the Sub-Saharan African average of 38 out of 100 and above the international benchmark for adequate public access to budget information,” he said in a statement.
“Government acknowledges the contributions of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Parliament of Zimbabwe, the Office of the Auditor-General, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) in advancing the public financial management reform agenda.”
Despite the positive results, Ncube said the government remained focused on improving public participation in the budget process.
In this regard, the ministry will conduct nationwide budget consultation meetings from July to December 2026 as part of preparations for the 2027 national budget.
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“These consultations will provide citizens, civil society organisations, youth, women, persons with disabilities, business representatives and other stakeholders with meaningful opportunities to contribute to the budget process,” said Ncube.
“The government remains committed to further enhancing budget transparency, expanding citizen-friendly budget information, strengthening oversight mechanisms and institutionalising public participation throughout the budget cycle.”
