FreeBalance, a Government Resource Planning Enterprise announced on the 15^th March that the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste has launched their web-based Transparency Portal.

The Timor-Leste Transparency Portal allows citizens to access historical and recent government financial information to monitor state funds’ effectiveness. Detail provided includes amounts allocated expenditure location, and program data. Citizens can investigate projects further to view budget transactions to ensure the budget is being spent as intended. This ensures honesty and transparency to improve citizen and investor confidence.

The Timor-Leste Transparency Portal provides 10 years of budget information: the budget that was approved and the actual budget spent. Reports and filtered results can be exported in PDF, Word, Excel, XML and HTML formats.

“With the launch of the FreeBalance Transparency Portal, the Government of Timor-Leste demonstrates worldwide leadership in transparency, trust and accountability,” said Manuel Pietra, President & CEO of FreeBalance. “Government transparency creates participation and confidence. Oversight improves government efficiency and effectiveness, strengthens capacity, and budget execution.”

Aid transparency is absolutely necessary for initiatives like this to operate to full potential.