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The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) with the International Budget Partnership (IBP), together with 60 organisations around the world, sent a letter to the UN Open Working Group for Sustainable Development Goals to include improving access to data on public finance management, public procurement, and the implementation of national development plans in the document that is being drafted.

We view the importance of specific references to data on public finance management, public procurement, and implementation of national development plans because in Malaysia, a large portion of these data are often not available for public access. Specific reference would allow Malaysia to follow international standards in the reporting of our public finances.

Public access to data on public finance management, public procurement, and implementation of development plans will facilitate meaningful citizen participation in monitoring government’s development plans and improve investor confidence in our country’s economic competitiveness, both of which would strengthen Malaysia’s ability to reach its development goals by 2020.

The letter was sent as a response to the removal of the above-mentioned point from the revised draft issued on June 30, 2014. The previous version of the draft included the following specific target: “by 2020 improve public access to information and government data, including on public finance management, public procurement and on the implementation of national development plans.”

Sustainable Development Goals are international development goals that the UN is currently drafting following the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that will end next year. Its current draft proposes 17 development goals to be achieved in 2030. The UN Open Working Group has met 12 times since March last year.

The letter submitted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) with 60 organisations worldwide can be viewed here .


Ideas is an independent cross-partisan think-tank that promotes market-based solutions to public policy challenges.

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