National Treasury's new initiative allows members of the public to view and engage with municipal financial data.

National Treasury has launched an open local government budget data portal to provide citizens and other stakeholders with access to comparable, verified information on the financial performance of each municipality.

The launch of the data portal dubbed "Municipal Money" coincides with the tabling of the country's 20th Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament today.

In a statement, Treasury says the data portal aims to promote transparency and citizen engagement through the visualisation and demystification of information about municipal spending.

The statement notes: "The creation of this portal is in response to the commitment made by the minister in his 2016 budget speech to launch a data portal that will provide stakeholders with municipal financial information, in order to stimulate citizen involvement in local governance.

"It is also in line with international best practice, in terms of which governments are increasingly opening up their data to the public and specifically budget data - to promote oversight, transparency and accountability."

According to Treasury, following engagements with civil society organisations in three cities, as well as partnering with Code for South Africa, it moved to develop the public inspired portal.

Treasury has described Municipal Money is a user-friendly Web site that utilises a variety of media and tools to present key municipal financial information, and also to explain the related financial concepts and their relevance to citizens.

The site is designed for an audience who may or may not have any financial knowledge or background, but also caters for the more data-savvy user who may want to trace and grapple with the actual datasets, says Treasury.

"Municipal Money draws on the raw data from a linked database, which is now also available for anyone to view, download and re-use...

"This platform will in future months be augmented to include more than just financial information and present wider sets of service delivery information including the geographical location and progress of planned infrastructure projects in communities."

Citizens will also be able to email their municipal management queries directly from the site and share reports of municipal financial performance directly to social media.