The Croatian public sector is still in the process of making a transition toward a public sector that would be compatible with the market economies. Although quite a lot has already been done in this matter, further efforts have to be invested in order to increase its transparency. Getting closer to Europe and the further democratisation of our society put further stress on the need for reinforcing these processes. As opposed to this, untransparent fiscal management has a destabilizing effect, creating inefficiency and spreading inequality.
The objective of this project was to determine the extents of transparency that should be present in the public sector. Public sector management is of central importance for the achievement of macroeconomic stability and high rates of economic growth, and transparency is one of the key elements in the management of the sector. Transparency in the public sector means that the sector is open to the public, in the following aspects: the structure and functioning of the government, measures of fiscal policy, public sector accounts and fiscal projections.
The research that was carried out on this project wanted to reach results that would indicate how to increase transparency in the Croatian public sector. Increasing transparency is of key importance in the further development of the public sector. Fiscal transparency increases the responsibility of political structures in the management of the public sector and increases the risk politicians are exposed to if they carry through an unsustainable fiscal policy. On the other hand, a well-informed public will participate in increasing credibility of the government.
In Croatia, there are many indications about major discretionary decision-making, lobbying, corruption, poor running of the public sector and so on. This project aimed to have an effect on increasing transparency of the public sector and the credibility of the basic institutions of the public sector that pertain to taxation, the budgetary process, extra-budgetary institutions, in short: the entire economics of the public sector.
Articles from the project were published mainly in the Institute's editions - Financial theory and practice, Occasional Papers Series and Newsletter.