Budget transparency rating: Mykolaiv is only 34% open

Mykolaiv is among the outsider cities in terms of budget transparency: the overall index is 31%. Photo: Photo: Vladyslav Kazmin

Mykolaiv took one of the last places in the local budget transparency ranking in 2025.

According to a study by the Public Partnership «For Transparent Local Budgets!», the level of openness of budget information in the city is only 31%, while the average for regional centres of Ukraine is 40%.

For comparison, Vinnytsia topped the ranking with a score of 70%. Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, and Zhytomyr also showed a high level of transparency (over 50%). Kherson has the worst results (19%), as well as Kramatorsk, Chernihiv, Poltava and Kharkiv.

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Experts note that budget transparency and citizen engagement in the budget process directly depend on the political will of local authorities.

«In the face of instability and rapid change, it is a transparent budget process that helps to maintain trust in local authorities. However, the study shows that the practices of transparency and involvement of community residents in budget policy-making remain widespread and unsystematic, although the involvement of residents and transparency of the budget process directly depend on the political will of local authorities. Although martial law conditions limit the possibility of holding public events, they do not eliminate the need for bilateral dialogue.» Therefore, the absence of all budget data and documents, drafts, decisions and reports, information on the results of meetings of working groups and council bodies, and the publication and use of open data, which is not an exception but rather the norm for most regional centres, is all the more worrying,» the study says.

The methodology for assessing the transparency index takes into account three parameters: openness of information, transparency of decision-making and citizen engagement, and the use of innovative practices such as digital platforms for discussion and public data.

The index is classified into the following levels: non-transparent (0-16%), satisfactory (17-48%), high (49-70%) and innovative (71-100%).

Infographic of local budget transparency in Ukraine. Photo: Public Partnership for Transparent Local Budgets

Experts emphasise that even under martial law, the publication of data, discussion of budget projects and bilateral dialogue with the community remain mandatory.

As a reminder, in May 2025, Transparency International Ukraine presented the results of a study of the transparency of Ukrainian cities. Mykolaiv received 68 points, which gave it 7th place in the overall ranking. It became one of the cities officially recognised as partially transparent.