Transparency

While there is no common agreed upon definition of transparency, Daniel Kaufmann, of the World Bank, defines transparency as the “increased flow of timely and reliable economic, social, and political information, which is accessible to all relevant stakeholders”. The information provided should also be accessible, relevant, of good quality and reliable. The IMF Fiscal Transparency Guidelines defines transparency as the monetary and financial policy transparency is the “environment in which the objectives of the policy, its legal, institutional and economic framework, policy decisions and their rationale, data and information related to monetary and financial policies and the accountability of the policymaking body are provided to the public in an understandable, accessible and timely basis”.

Transparency is always closely linked, and needs to be, to accountability. Transparency allows the citizens, markets, politicians, and the state to hold institutions accountable for their policies and performance. Thus transparency, with its reliable timey and reliable information, becomes a tool for public and private institutions. Without transparency, there cannot be accountability. Transparency is also one of the most powerful tools in building trust in institutions among the public.

With these definitions, we always find that transparency is closely related to accountability. The reason for this is that transparency allows citizens, markets, politicians and the state to hold institutions accountable for their policies and performance. Transparency is the tool for the evaluation of public and private institutions. Without reliable publicly disseminated information, there can be no accountability. Thus, transparency is powerful instrument in building trust of institution among citizens.

For the most part, there is no transparency in Nepal. Political parties, bureaucratic offices and ministries, and other institutions do not freely disseminate information to the public. Reform Forum is realizes the need for transparency for Nepal and is working in several areas towards this end.