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Tax and Revenue Management

Timor Leste puts public financial data online

By Johanna Morden | 11 April 2011

The government of Timor Leste is pushing for added transparency and accountability in its public finances by putting all of its financial information online, Finance Minister Emilia Pires told FutureGov Asia Pacific.

The Ministry of Finance of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste has launched a website, called the Timor Leste Transparency Portal (http://www.transparency.gov.tl), offering access to historical and recent government fund disbursement data dating back ten years.

The details provided on the website include amounts allocated, expenditure location and program data. Information is updated in real time.

Minister Pires said the Transparency Portal actually portrays all the financial management transactions of the country’s Ministry of Finance.

“The initiative came from the Ministry of Finance, for us to have a better mechanism to educate our civil society on public financial management,” she said.

Prior to the launch of the website, the Timor Leste government had no way to inform its constituents on how public funds are being spent.

“But now, with the Portal, there’s a real-time database, so the information is immediately available,” said the Minister.

The government placed such data online to enable all citizens, as well as foreigners and investors, to access them easily and instantly.

“Every citizen has the right to access it, because we’re talking about public money - we’re talking about money that belongs to everybody, not just the government or myself or one or two groups,” she said.

Other objectives of the Transparency Portal include assisting in reducing the risk of corruption within the government’s ranks and supporting the wider national agenda of promoting a culture of transparency in the State and in society.

Pires believes that the Transparency Portal will lead Timor Leste to the way of recovery. The country suffered 400 years of occupation, 24 years of war and two years of transitional administration until it reached independence in 2002.

“Transparency and accountability, through the Portal, is a very important step in our democratization process,” she said.

To Pires, harnessing available up-to-date technology, such as the internet, is useful in improving the accountability and the performance of the government.

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