Egypt ranked 61 out of 117 countries in the International Budget Partnership’s Open Budget Survey, which ranks countries for the transparency of their budget. Egypt inched up four spots from 65th when the biennial report last came out in 2017, and is now in the #2 spot regionally behind Jordan, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said in a statement. The minister attributed the improved ranking to the government increasing access to budget figures through its publication of the citizen’s budget and pre-budget statements.

Where we got tub-tubs: The report gives us a star for the Finance Ministry publishing pre-budget statements and citizen budgets, albeit “late,” and also for the availability of a year-end report. These have brought our transparency score to 43 (up from 41 since the report’s last iteration). The global average is 45 points out of 100, but the report sets its benchmark at 61 points. The report suggests our score will improve by issuing the reports earlier and providing more detail in the final breakdown of expenditures in the state budget’s end-of-year report.

Where we could stand to improve: Our weakest point in the index is public participation, where we scored 15 out of 100 points. We’re not alone, though — the global average is just 14. The survey recommends rolling out mechanisms to engage civil society organizations and marginalized communities in the budgeting process. We also scored 50 out of 100 points in the oversight index, due to what the report sees as a “limited role” played by the House of Representatives during the planning and implementation stages of the budget cycle. The survey also recommends bringing in an independent auditor to review the state’s year-end accounts.

You can check out the survey’s country report here (pdf), or view the Egypt landing page.