VOA标准英语2009年-Key South East Asian Countries Rank Low in Budg

A new survey indicates several South East Asian countries rank poorly in providing accessible and transparent¹ information on their national budgets, raising fears of corruption² in spending programs. Survey by the Washington-based International Budget Partnership³ says for many countries minor⁴ steps could be taken to improve transparency and accountability.
　
S. Korean Deputy Trade Minister Ahn Ho-yuang shows a copy of newspaper featuring a protest in S. Korea during the World Economic Forum⁵ on East Asia (File)

According to the Washington-based International Budget Partnership, most countries fall short in providing readily available information on budgets and spending programs.

Malou Mangahas, executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism⁶, says access to budget documents is a major challenge. The IBP says in many countries the public is simply shut out from the budget formation process.

"The report with you right now gives a very sad story. About 80 per cent of the governments in 85 countries of the world are not transparent about their budget and financial processes," said Mangahas. "The battle that we have really as journalists and development advocates is that that means misuse⁷, abuse, and corruption of public funds continue in small and large measures in many countries."

The International Budget Partnership works with civil organizations in developing countries to analyze⁸, monitor and influence the government budget process. The organization says the aim is to ensure budgets respond to the needs of the poor as well as provide more transparency and accountability.

At the top of the Open Budget Index were the United Kingdom, South Africa, France, New Zealand and United States in providing extensive information in the budget process.

Among the lowest ranking were Angola, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In South East Asia, Vietnam and Cambodia received low rankings, placing among the group of countries that provide little or no information on national budgets.

"The Royal Government of Cambodia provides scant⁹ information to the public in terms of central government budget and financial activity during the fiscal¹⁰ year," said Kim Song Chea, of the non-government organization, Forum on Cambodia.

Song Chea says Cambodia faces a number of challenges. He says the country lacks funds to boost the auditing¹¹ process and has few means to press the government to enact¹² freedom of information laws.

Song Chea says foreign donors¹³, key contributors to Cambodia's development budget, need to press the government on issues of accountability.

According to the report, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand also fell short in transparency and information on national budgets. Only Indonesia showed signs of progress towards reform over recent years.

Khairiah Makhtaruddin, a researcher with the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute in Kuala Lumpur, says the Malaysian government offers little chance for public participation¹⁴ in the budget process.

She says the government should improve the parliamentary review processes to raise levels of transparency.

Only Indonesia ranked better than 50 per cent in providing "significant information" to the public in its budget documents, with an improvement following reforms by the Ministry¹⁵ of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance at the national level.

The IBP called on governments to take urgent action to improve budget transparency and accountability, calling on international donors to add their weight along with civil society to publicize and demand explanations from governments to provide more information on spending programs.

The Washington-based organization recommended governments provide more timely information on the Internet and improve public accessibility to pre-budget documents. It also called for more debate and wider distribution of information through radio in countries where literacy rates are low.

1 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

2 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

5 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

6 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

7 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

8 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

9 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。

10 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

11 auditing   

n.审计，查账，决算

参考例句：

• Auditing standards are the rules governing how an audit is performed.收支检查标准是规则统治一个稽核如何被运行。
• The auditing services market is dominated by a few large accounting firms.审计服务市场被几家大型会计公司独占了。

12 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

13 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

15 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。