Social Control and Transparency in Brazil

Posted by Helio Tollini 

The requirements of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF), of May 2000, helped improve transparency of the public accounts at all levels of governments in Brazil. The advances in this area were testified by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), whose 2008 Open Budget Initiative ranked Brazil 8th in terms of the budget process transparency,[1] and by the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Initiative, whose report on Brazil, currently under finalization, places the country first among approximately 90 finalized assessments.

The LRF had never been changed until the recent approval of Complementary Law nº 131, of May 2009. The new law requires all federative units (which includes the municipalities) to make available “detailed information” on the Internet, in real time, of their budget and financial execution. According to the law, since May 28, 2010, the federal government, the states and the municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants are obliged to provide the required information on their own websites. The deadline is extended by one more year for municipalities whose number of inhabitants ranges from 50,000 to 100,000, while the municipalities with less than 50,000 inhabitants have three extra years to adjust, until May 2013. The law foresees sanctions for non-compliance, like the withholding of voluntary transfers from the federal government, which are very important for smaller states and municipalities.